


Flight 815 to Colorado Springs: Canceled.

by SpaceWaffleHouseTM



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 585 miles of sexual tension, A Slight Love of Rey's Chest, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Author loves them, Ben has a good relationship with his parents, Car Sex, Colorado Springs, F/M, Fingering, Fluff and Smut, Fuck from the Passenger Side, Jim Cantore is shaking at these bad driving decisions, Lay's Salt and Vinegar Chips, M/M, Now With Added Waffle House, Only One Bed, Porn with Feelings, Rey may make sweet love to some in the first paragraph, Reylo Waffle Cameo, Salt Lake City, Sharing a Rental Car, Smut, Sweet Ben Solo, They make an appearance - Freeform, a bit of flirting, bed sharing, casual banter, inclement weather, oh no, slight plot, western america, what do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-09-16 00:03:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16943208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWaffleHouseTM/pseuds/SpaceWaffleHouseTM
Summary: “Listen, I know we’ve only known each other for five minutes, but do you trust me?”In which Ben and Rey are strangers who have to share a rental car to make it home for Christmas because their flight got cancelled.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NewerConstellations](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NewerConstellations/gifts).



> Well this came into my head within about three seconds so like THANK YOU FOR THE PROMPT. This is going to be a fun ride already, so strap into your rental cars, buckle up, and let's hope enterprise can save their souls.

Salt and vinegar Lay’s crisps were easily the best thing mankind had ever created. In the ten million years since their first bipedal ancestors had evolved, many wonderful, marvelous things had been invented. Things like electricity, and toasters, and the always comparable sliced bread were just a few of humanity’s best inventions, but none of them quite compared — in Rey’s opinion — to that of salt and vinegar crisps. That slightly too salty but still absolutely beautiful explosion in her mouth nearly had her moaning in her seat at the airplane’s gate. It was only the fact that there was a massive crowd of people all around her that kept her from throwing her head back and singing the borderline orgasmic praises that were coming to mind for this massive bag of crisps she’d bought at the entrance to terminal C. 

Licking the salt of one round off of her fingers, she reached into the bag for the next one, and pulled up her phone to check the time. It was already late, and she’d known this when she selected an evening flight — in the name of cheap tickets did she pray — but still seeing the clock pass a quarter after six right before a flight was never a favorite thing of hers. Especially when the flight was supposed to start boarding half an hour ago. Already she could see a long night ahead, and she was dreading it. 

The people working at the gate didn’t look like they were looking forward to it either. Their nice uniforms were slightly crumpled from leaning hunched over onto the counter and occasionally taking naps. Rey laughed a little. She would be doing much the same if she were working a Christmas Eve shift, but fortunately, she wasn’t. She’d been given time off from the conference she was attending to go back home to visit her friends, which she was more than thankful for. Her friend Poe was planning a surprise proposal to his boyfriend, their longtime mutual best friend, Finn, and she wasn’t going to miss that. Not on Christmas. 

Rey sighed, and wrapped the black, fur-lined leather jacket a little more tightly around her as she felt a tiny breeze waft by from the air conditioning, then she resumed her work on her massive bag of Lay’s. A little voice in her head told her that she ought to slow down if she wanted any hope of having some crisps for her flight, even if it was a short one lasting barely an hour, but she decided not to listen to that voice. She deserved that much. 

As she put another crisp into her mouth, there was a movement out of the corner of her eye as a shadow appeared beside her, then pressure shifting as someone sat down in the seat next to her. Upon further inspection, that was the only empty seat at the gate, so she had no valid excuse to chastise the stranger. She did, however, turn to get a look at them, only to discover the man sitting beside her was probably trying to avoid people as much as she was. 

For one thing, it was nighttime, and he was wearing sunglasses and a hoodie zipped up far enough to cover his chin beneath a leather jacket that almost matched hers, and his arms were crossed over his chest as his legs tried to curl his massive frame up into a little ball as his head tilted back. A soft groan left his lips, and she barely fought back the snort that threatened to escape her at how much she related to him. 

Deciding her new neighbor was harmless, Rey resumed eating her chips, popping another into her mouth and relishing in the crunch that ensued as she chewed on the salt coated crisp. Another involuntary moan escaped her mouth as she tasted the next one, and she heard her neighbor shift to give her  a weird look. “You like those?” a deep voice teased, then the sunglasses he was wearing lowered slightly, and she blushed as she looked down, avoiding his gaze. 

“A little, I’ve been eating them to fill the time,” she said, then she flicked her head in the direction of the gate where they were set to board the plane. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your… um…”

“Hangover,” he answered, then he winced as he reached up, and grabbed the sunglasses from his face to reveal a rather heavy set of under eye bags, and a paler complexion than she’d initially thought. “I’m very, very hungover. Had one hell of a night last night.”

Rey snorted a laugh. “Yeah, sounds like it,” she replied, then she shifted in her seat so she was facing him, and offered out the bag of chips. “Want some?”

He practically let out a moan himself as he nodded. “Please,” he replied, then she opened up the bag to him in full, and he reached forward to take one. The hood he was wearing fell back, exposing wavy dark hair that just barely brushed his shoulders and a face that behind those eye bags was actually— _ shit _ —rather attractive, if a touch too pale. It was definitely the hair that had no right to look so put together despite having likely spent hours inside of that cotton hood — absolutely  _ no right.  _ She tried to shake her thoughts from where they went straight to running her hands through his hair, carding her fingers through it as he pinned her to a nearby wall—but it was absolutely useless, since it just led her to thinking of other rather lewd things. 

The second thing she noticed was his hands. Long, thick fingers reached into the bag she’d been snacking on for the last twenty minutes, and pulled out a crisp fragment that was absolutely dwarfed by their size. She swallowed at the things that those fingers were doing to her imagination since she hadn’t even exchanged the smallest of touches with them. 

Normally, her thoughts wouldn’t be spinning into such a path within thirty seconds of meeting someone, but she was certainly having those sorts of thoughts about him now. She’d have to stop that eventually if she wanted to have any hope of looking at him with a straight face, but for the next three seconds at least, she allowed herself to think about it a little more. 

The stranger took the crisp fragment, and popped it into his mouth, groaning as he swallowed it a few seconds later, then he brushed the salt remnants off of his hands. “Thanks, sorry to bother you,” he said, then he looked around. “Where’d you find those?”

She gave him a sympathetic look. “Sorry, they were in a little tourist shop at the beginning of the terminal,” she told him, then he groaned again as his head fell back. “Do you want to share mine? There’s a lot of crisps in here, and it’ll be a short flight. I can just get more at home.”

Her new friend looked at her like she’d just given him the world, then he nodded. “You might actually be an Angel,” he told her, then as she giggled, he offered her his hand, “But I don’t think you should share your chips with me when you don’t even know my name. I’m Ben.”

She looked down at those large, thick fingers again, then she wrapped her own around them, and shook his hand. “Rey,” she answered him. “My name’s Rey.”

Ben gave her a soft smile from his distractingly full lips that also had her mind going places it shouldn’t as he let go of her hand, and reached back into her crisps bag. “Nice to meet you, Rey. Sorry I’m stealing all your chips.”

“Nah, no worries, I didn’t need to eat them all anyway.”

A soft laugh escaped his lips, then he bit into the crisps he’d stolen from her bag. She watched him as he slowly uncrumpled from the ball he’d attempted to curl himself into. “So what happened to you last night, then?” she asked. 

“Hmm?”

“What’s your story, Ben?”

A small blush crept up his cheeks. “It was my friend’s bachelor party, we were… we were in Vegas, this is my connecting flight home,” he told her. “I didn’t think through how much I drank last night.”

“I can tell,” she said, then she placed the bag of Lay’s perfectly on the center of the little chair handles between them. “Here, go ahead. You could use them more than I can.”

Ben looked at her like she had just given him the world again, and she found her breath catch slightly in her throat at the softness in his eyes, which were an unassumingly interesting shade of dark brown with flecks of gold scattered throughout. They were borderline hypnotic to look at, and she could already see herself becoming completely lost in them. “Listen, if you ever need a favor, just… just let me know, cause I’ll do anything.”

Well, that was certainly a promising word;  _ anything.  _ It meant whatever she wanted from him, all she had to do was ask, and the thought of that was— _ she needed to stop.  _ Instead of showing that she was having any sort of internal conflict, Rey shot him a smile, and nodded. “Yeah, I can certainly do that, but it’ll be a lot easier if… if I had your number?”

He quirked an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything in protest as he held out his hand for her phone. Rey felt the corners of her mouth quirk up into a smile, then she unlocked it, and handed it over. Ben gave a tiny snort at her lock screen—which was an image of Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation telling Ben Wyatt she’d wave his head on a stick in front of his weeping mother— and then began inputting his phone number into her contacts. She couldn’t help but notice that his area code matched hers, and wondered if they happened to live in the same city. Sure they were heading for the same airport, but people heading to Colorado Springs tended to head anywhere from Denver to one of the rural, ski-resort towns a few hours out. Who was to say he actually lived there?

“So, you have the same area code I do,” she told him as he handed her phone back, then she cleared her throat. “Any chance we live in the same city?”

“I think we might,” he replied, then he shrugged. “Looks like it’ll be easy for me to return that favor, then.”

“Yeah, I think it might be.”

They both shared another laugh, then a slight twinkle appeared in his eye, caused by the glare of the lights around them, but hypnotic nonetheless as he shifted in his seat. “So what brings you to Salt Lake?”

“Ah, I was just out here for a business conference,” she said, then she adjusted her hands in her lap. “Boring office job, not very interesting stuff, but occasionally they send me on an hour long, ear popping flight here, so…”

Another slight chuckle left him at that. “Not a fan of the city?”

“Oh, I have no complaints about the city, just… I don’t know, I’m not a fan of flying, especially when it’s such a short distance.”

“Why don’t you just drive?”

“My car’s a piece of shit,” she told him, then she laughed. “It’s an ancient thing, I don’t think it could go more than about twenty miles at one time, much less five hundred.”

“That’s a fair point,” Ben conceded, then he reached into the crisps bag and took more out. “I can’t say I have the same problem, but I don’t drive out here because of laziness. And I don’t think it bugs me as much as it bugs you.”

She shook her head. “No, probably not,” she replied as she looked at the time on her phone screen. Their flight was supposed to be in the air by now and they hadn’t even started first class boarding. What the hell was going on. 

“Something going on?” Apparently he’d noticed her expression, and when she looked up, there was concern in his gaze. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just… we were supposed to be on the plane half an hour ago… I’m not entirely sure what’s going on,” she said, then she turned around, looking around the gate desk and the people around her. Her eyes caught sight of a family of four, whose two young sons were currently standing on the chairs pointing outside as they pressed their faces eagerly against the window. Outside of said window, snow was pouring down in sheets so thick, Rey could barely see the plane waiting for them outside the building. 

Suddenly the reason for the delay became a lot clearer, and she was surprised she hadn’t noticed it sooner. Well, perhaps the salt and vinegar crisps she’d been eating had something to do with that. They had been rather distracting. “When did that happen?” she asked out loud, knowing for certain when she’d looked up just twenty minutes earlier the sky had been clear. 

“About the same time I got here,” Ben replied, his voice sounding none-too-happy at the sight of the blizzard outside. “Great, we’ll probably be here all night.”

“Maybe not,” Rey said, though she knew he was probably right. Still. “I’ve flown through worse.”

There was a smirk on Ben’s face as she turned around, and he shook his head as he plopped a few more crisp fragments into his mouth, relishing in the satisfying crunch. “I doubt it, I’m sure we’ll be hearing the call within the next… fifteen minutes that our flight’s been canceled.”

“You want to put money on that?”

“I wouldn’t say no to free money. How much are we betting?” he asked, and she got the feeling from the glint of mischief in his eye that he liked winning and things went his way  _ frequently _ . 

At the risk of injuring her own pride, Rey smiled back at him. “Twenty dollars and a cup of coffee sound good?”

“With this hangover? Twenty dollars and a cup of coffee sounds  _ great,”  _ he replied, then for the second time since they’d met, his hand extended to meet hers, and she shook it, cementing their bet. Her pulse quickened as she released his hand, then they both shifted in their seats so they were once again facing the rest of the gate. Somehow though, they both managed to be leaning in toward each other, and as much as she wanted to attribute it to the fact that the crisps bag she’d offered to share with him was between them, something told her that wasn’t it. 

“So… we’ve got a little bit of time to kill,” she said, then she reached into the bag, and pulled out a few more of the Lay’s. “Did you grow up there or did you move in like I did?”

“Yeah, I grew up there,” he replied, then she could see memories dancing in front of his eyes. “That’s actually why I’m here. I’m visiting my parents for the holidays…” His voice trailed off, and the smile started to fade from his eyes as he thought through that reason. 

Rey was tempted to rest a hand on his arm, but didn’t. They weren’t quite that close yet, and they’d only met fifteen minutes ago after all. Maybe if they had a little more time she’d let herself discover what it was like to touch him, but they hadn’t quite had that yet. “Not too happy about that, I’m guessing?”

“What gave it away?” he asked sarcastically.

“Your voice.”

The corners of his mouth twitched as he looked at her, and again she found herself distracted by how full his lips were. It was downright sinful. It was certainly making her thoughts go in that sort of direction, that was for sure. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t hate my parents, don’t get me wrong, but every Christmas I’ve spent with them since I turned…” he made a gesture with his hand. “I want to say… twenty five? Has been a question of when I’d get married and my mother has started asking about grandchildren.”

“Oh, no…” she breathed, then they both laughed nervously. “I’m so sorry.”

“What about you? I’ve gotten the impression you live there full time.”

“Yeah, I do. I’ve lived there since I finished my bachelor’s degree. I just wrapped up my master’s last spring,” she told him, then she smiled wistfully as she thought of the people she was visiting. “But I’m rushing home because one of my friends is going to propose to the other, and I’m not missing that if I can help it.”

“That’s definitely a good reason to miss work.”

“Yeah, at least, it will be if I can ever get there. This storm…” She looked out to where the blizzard conditions had rendered the plane outside completely invisible. She couldn’t even see the faint traces of lights in the white sheet beyond them as she stared out the window into what was supposed to be the dark night. 

Ben gave her a sympathetic hum, then he sighed. “I don’t like our odds if we attempt to fly in this. I’ve seen one too many episodes of  _ Air Disasters _ , I know how this shit usually ends.”

She practically guffawed in response, but managed to avoid making too big a fool of herself as she simply gave him a nod, then she opened her mouth to respond to his comment, when at last one of the women behind the gate’s counter took hold of the intercom. “May I have your attention please, this is your announcement that flight eight-fifteen to Colorado Springs has been canceled, flight eight-fifteen to Colorado Springs has been canceled. The flight has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening at 6:15 pm, we’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause…” the woman’s voice trailed off in a series of groans, and while she was probably saying something important about vouchers and the rescheduling of their flight, Rey couldn’t hear it over the sound of Ben’s laughter as he realized he was about to get twenty bucks and a cup of coffee out of her. 

Rey shook her head, and reached into the wallet she’d stuffed into the pocket of her jeans before presenting him with a twenty from its leather folds. Ben was grinning like a fool when he took it from her, pressing it dramatically to those gloriously full lips before he pocketed the cash, then he turned toward her. “So now that our flight’s canceled… you want to get that cup of coffee? I saw a Starbucks a few gates back.”

She gave him an exhausted grin. “Starbucks sounds great, even if I am paying,” she told him, then she stood up slowly, stretching out all the aches that had developed in the near hour she’d spent sitting in the chair before she reached for her suitcase, and more importantly, the bag of crisps she’d picked up. Once she was done, she turned to Ben, and gestured to him and the sleek, black suitcase that looked like it cost more than her entire life. “You coming?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he replied, then Ben groaned as he stood up, grabbed his suitcase, and followed her out of the gate, and back out into the main aisle way of the terminal. The two walked down side by side, Rey’s gait just a little faster than his, but he matched it by the length of his stride. She took in his legs as they walked, letting herself fall back just a half step behind him for the sole purpose of checking out his long legs, and hoping he wouldn’t notice. 

Unfortunately for her, a smirk was quickly growing on his face to confirm the fact that he most definitely  _ did  _ notice, and she blushed as she fell back in step with him. “See anything you like?” he asked. 

“Really? You’re going with that line?”

“Well, it was either that or, ‘enjoy the view,’ sweetheart, so take your pick,” he said, then they both laughed as the Starbucks came into view at the far end of the terminal. “But did you?”

“Did I what?” she asked innocently, pretending to pick at something under the nail bed of her free hand as she walked by his side. 

“Enjoy the view?”

Now they were on that level where she could reach over with the hand that wasn’t on her suitcase, and smack him in the gut. The impact was just hard enough that he let out a soft grunt, but still soft to where he didn’t double over in pain, but instead gave her a dorky grin that had her heart melting a little. “Shut up,” she replied, knowing that she had entirely enjoyed the view. 

“Only when my mouth is full of a latte,” he replied, and she scoffed, smacking him again as they approached the long line leading into the Starbucks. 

Ben was still grinning stupidly when they finally walked up to the back of the line, and she was still barely resisting the urge to lose herself laughing. Instead she focused on anything else. Namely, the line in front of them that would prevent his wonderful mouth from being full of latte for the next twenty minutes. “Looks like half the plane had the same idea we did,” she replied, then she looked at the time, and groaned. 

Without that plane, they would be stuck there for an indeterminate amount of time with no telling whether or not they’d make it home to witness proposals or be pestered by families. Rey’s stress levels were increasing the longer she was stranded in the airport, and something told her Ben wasn’t too happy about it either, but both of them were trying to make the best out of their garbage situation.  

“This sucks,” Rey muttered after a moment, then Ben hummed sympathetically, and she slumped against the nearby wall. “If we don’t leave until evening tomorrow I’ll never make it home in time. I’ll miss the most important moment of Finn’s life.”

“He the friend you were talking about?”

“Yeah, his boyfriend was going to pick me up, he’s the one who’s proposing. We were going to go buy food for Christmas dinner together.”

“My mother will probably write me out of her will if I miss dinner, too. I can’t stay here all night,” he said, then she watched as an idea bloomed on his face. “Listen, I know we’ve only known each other for five minutes, but do you trust me?”

Rey blinked up at him, knowing full well she most definitely should not trust this stranger who had just said they’d only known one another for five minutes, but for some reason she definitely did. Maybe she wouldn’t go over a cliff with him, but she certainly trusted him enough for whatever he was about to suggest they did. “Yeah, I do, why?”

“We both need to get to Colorado Springs by tomorrow evening right?”

“Right.”

“But the next plane there is leaving tomorrow night long after we need to be there,” he said, then he cleared his throat, and gestured forward with his hand. “So I should probably tell you I’ve more than got the money for a decent rental, and I’m an expert at driving in the snow.”

A smile crept up Rey’s cheeks. “I like where you’re going with this.”

“What I’m trying to say is… Do you want to just drive there with me so neither of us misses out on Christmas dinner with our friends?”

Rey nodded eagerly, then she took in a deep breath. “Listen, I’ll buy you all the coffee in the world for this,” she told him, then she paused. “But can you promise me first that you’re not a serial killer?”

A small snort left him. “I’m not a serial killer.”

“Good, then let’s get some coffee, cause it’ll be a long night,” she replied, feeling a rush akin to that of the caffeine she had yet to taste rush through her veins as she realized what she was about to do. As she and Ben stood side by side in the line laughing at themselves, she took in another breath at the realization that she was about to spend about ten hours in a car with the man beside her she’d definitely been checking out since the moment they’d met. 

Rey took a bite out of the crisp bag she held in her suitcase hand, and swallowed the crisp nervously as she looked him up and down again. That long hair, the broad chest and shoulders, the fact that he was also wearing a leather jacket that outlined what must’ve been promising arm muscles, and everything in between were going to absolutely ruin her. It was only ten hours though, right? What was the worst thing that could happen?

The line ahead of them began to move, interrupting her thoughts, but as she walked past Ben a few steps, she thought she saw his eyes fall downward as she moved. This was going to be a long, long ten hours, that was for sure. 

Ten minutes later, though, they were sitting at the last available table for two in the Starbucks and she was still struggling to figure out ways to survive around this stupidly attractive man. He shouldn’t have been attractive at all, actually. All the features in his face jumbled together shouldn’t have worked. They had no right to work, but for some odd reason they did, and Ben was easily one of the best looking men she’d ever seen. 

And she was about to be stuck in a car with him for ten hours. Technically the drive was closer to nine, but the weather wasn’t exactly permitting smooth travel conditions. For all she knew they’d wind up stuck in a snow drift and worse off than they had been in the first place. It was quite the gamble they were taking, and she could only hope it would pay off. 

“So what sort of car are you thinking?” she asked. “Something small or are we getting a giant monster of a van that could fit us and a small army?”

Ben’s laughter shook the table, then he shook his head. “Probably something smaller. Hopefully with tires that have traction worth a shit.”

“Hopefully.”

“Can you drive in snow at all? I’m just asking for if I get tired and we need to switch off.”

Rey thought for a moment. The only snow driving experience she’d had was local, around one specific town. She hadn’t ever journeyed out particularly far, and certainly had never been on a major highway before. Still, she was open to trying it. “I can drive a little.”

“A little?”

“Enough to not get us killed,” she said, then a blush crept up her cheeks. “It’s like I’ve said, I’ve got what my friend Poe calls…” she paused, gathering the best American accent she could muster to imitate her friend. “An old clunker.” The accent wasn’t quite American, and perhaps it sounded vaguely southern at best, and all sorts of cockney rubbish at worst. Either way, it’s end result was Ben throwing his head back and laughing at her as his hands came up to cover his face. “What?”

He only laughed harder, though this time he propped his elbows on the table as he  shook with laughter. “Your accent needs work,” he said plainly, then she felt her cheeks flush further as he came down from his laughter. “But anyway, I’m thinking we finish these coffees and get on the road if that’s okay with you. If we wait to leave until morning…”

“Yeah, Yeah! Good idea, brilliant, really,” she said, then she took another sip of her latte, praying she didn’t make a fool of herself further. 

“We’ll probably have to stop somewhere on the way, though, just cause it is so late,” he warned her, then he swallowed, making that sinful motion with his mouth again. “Maybe go halvsies on a hotel room.”

“Bold of you to assume I can afford anything above a motel six.”

Ben shrugged. “Okay maybe I’ll cover three quarters, then, cause after this shit…” He gestured to the airport around them, which was full of equally stranded passengers. “We deserve better than a motel six, Rey.”

She couldn’t exactly argue with that. After all they’d been through, she certainly deserved to fall asleep under decently thick sheets and a heater that didn’t make loud, threatening monster growls throughout the night. Ben was right. They deserved better. They’d earned it. There was still one thing she was sort of worried about, though. “You sure your hangover’s better? I know you looked pretty rough when you came into the gate.”

He gave her an almost enthusiastic nod. “Yeah, the coffee’s really helping. I also… well, you’re not bad company either. You know, for a stranger.”

A soft snort left her, but she grinned at him as she took a sip of her coffee. “Yeah, you’re not so bad yourself,” she said, then she sipped again, and the cup was rendered empty. It was time to leave. “You ready to get out of here?”

Holding up a finger, Ben raised his mocha to his lips, and she watched wide-eyed as he chugged the remainder—though there was only about an eighth of the cup left—of his coffee. All she could do was blink at him as he set it down, then he gave her that smile she was really starting to like seeing. “I’m ready,” he said, then he stood up, and offered her his hand. “Are you?”

She placed her hand in his. “Born ready.” And with that, Rey stood up, and reached for her bag of lays and suitcase with her free hand before letting Ben lead her out of the terminal. The entire way out, she couldn’t help but notice one, crucial thing…

He never let go of her hand, and she certainly wasn’t planning to let go of his. The meaning of that was lost to her in that moment, but she knew instantly she was in for an even longer night than she thought. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This had a lot more classic rock than I intended. It also deviated slightly from my outline but for the better I think. Anyway, here's another chapter, thanks for the awesome, awesome prompt again!

Getting a rental car involved a bit more effort than she had previously thought. For starters, they took forever to find the desks, and by the time they did find them, it was supposedly ten minutes to closing. Supposedly. Rey was sure they were telling the truth, but still it felt like it was almost personal when they only just barely managed to get the last vehicle they had available, a 2018 KIA Sportage, and by the time they were walking out to the parking lot to retrieve it, she was fairly certain she would pass out in the car. 

“That was something, wasn’t it?” she asked, rubbing at her temples as they walked out into the parking lot. “It wasn’t enough that we had our bloody flight canceled, we had to get the last car available too.”

Ben shrugged, but by the look on his face, she could tell he wasn’t too happy about this development either. Snow crunched under their boots, and whipped into their faces from the strong wind as they walked out into the lot, and both of them raised their hands to fend it off. “I don’t know, could be worse. They could’ve not had a car available at all.” With that, he pressed a button on the keys they’d been handed, and the lights on a black, slightly larger than she was used to driving SUV lit up. “I hope this thing can drive in snow.”

Rey chuckled nervously as they approached the car, and Ben pressed a button that popped the trunk open, and for a moment the two of them stood there inspecting the space before they moved to put in their luggage at the same time. “Oh, shit, sorry, you go first,” she told him, blushing when he smiled at her and shook his head. She could only hope he didn’t notice. 

“No, it’s… it’s alright, you go ahead,” he assured her. 

“Ben, you’re already doing so much for me—”

“I don’t mind doing it,” he told her, those dark brown eyes looking softer than they had any fucking right to as they looked down at her, and the corners of his full lips turned up into a goofy smile. “Besides,” he added as she bent down, and lifted her suitcase into the back of the car. “It gives me the chance to enjoy the view, too.”

By all rights, she should have been offended. She should have turned and smacked him, but to be fair, she’d done the exact same thing to him that he was now doing to her. When her gaze fell on him next, her heart raced when she caught him taking his time ghosting his eyes over her entire body. Suddenly she was more than grateful that her leggings were so tight, giving her the opportunity to put her ass on better display as she leaned forward, and pushed the suitcase in further. 

“Did you?” she asked when she was finished, feeling satisfied at the sight of his slack jaw.

“Did I what now?”

“Did you enjoy the view?”

Ben shuddered visibly, as if coming back into himself after a vivid daydream, or like Raven having a vision on  _ That’s So Raven _ . Once he was back though, he was smirking at her as he bent down himself, and this time it was her eyes on him as his jacket and hoodie underneath rode up to expose a little patch of skin beneath. Ben wasn’t the most endowed in the ass department, but she certainly liked what she saw. She definitely enjoyed the chiseled preview of muscles that he exposed when he tossed his suitcase in beside hers, and gave her a wink as he stood up, then lifted his arm, which caused his damn shirt to lift up again. Rey thought that maybe, just maybe she was going to die, and it was going to be a slow and painful death because Ben Solo had abs for days, approximately eight of them. 

“Oh you’re just being an asshole now,” she replied, then as they walked over to their respective sides of the car, and he laughed as they opened their doors, then both plopped themselves into their seats simultaneously. “Game on, by the way.”

Another beautiful giggle left him, and Rey was quickly learning that she liked the sound of Ben Solo’s laugh. It was almost intoxicating to listen to, a sound she was certain she’d never grow tired of. Suddenly she was extremely grateful, more so now than ever before that they were going to the same hometown. It meant there was a chance that she’d hear it again after this was over. “That’s fair, but please don’t do anything that’ll send us head first into a snowdrift.”

Rey laughed. “That’s not my fault if you can’t drive,” she replied, and Ben shook his head, but there was a smile on his face as he turned the car on, and Rey felt the heat from the car’s air conditioning system wash over her. By the time he pulled out of the parking lot in full, she was sweltering beneath her fur-lined jacket, and though she’d only just buckled her seatbelt, she sighed as they slowly pulled out onto the road. The damn thing was going to have to come off in minutes, but for now… “Whoa…”

The wall of snow wasn’t much better from the ground level. Neither of them could see the road particularly well from where they stood, and the damn thing was almost snowed over anyway. Were it not for the many street lights and signs, they probably wouldn’t have made it, but somehow they managed to make it out of the lot and onto the street. 

A tension filled the car as they went, and not the fun, sexual tension that had developed between herself and Ben either, but a more serious one that told them how much danger they potentially faced in doing this. As they came upon a stoplight, Ben’s knuckles went white as he pressed on the brake, then he let out a relieved sigh when they didn’t even skid a little bit. “This is going to be fun,” he said, then they both shared a nervous chuckle as the light turned green.

He eased on the accelerator, moving them down the road slowly, then he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “We might want to pull up a map for this,” he said, then he turned onto a road that bore a sign marking the eastbound freeway. “How charged is your phone?”

“That’s a good question,” she replied, then she reached into the pocket of the jacket that was making her overheated as they made their way onto the freeway that would take them out of Utah and into Colorado. Brandishing her phone a moment later, she muttered instructions into siri, keeping the directions vague by listing Colorado Springs as their destination. Once her phone had produced a map, she found her eyes going wide as she looked at it. “Looks like we’re passing through Wyoming.”

“What’s so special about Wyoming?”

“I’ve never been there, I don’t know, it’s just… something I noticed,” she said, then she felt her cheeks flush again as she turned and kept her eyes on the road. “You want to turn on the radio?”

“So early on?” he asked, then he shook his head. “No, not yet. We’ll both fall asleep if we don’t stay up for at least the first few hours… chatting or something. If we do turn on the radio, it’s going to turn into an episode of Glee in here or nothing at all.”

“You watched Glee?” she asked in disbelief. 

Ben nodded. “Yeah, I was in college, I… was bored as shit, and I don’t know I just… The first season wasn’t bad.”

“No, I agree, but your opinion on the show after that is what matters.”

“Oh, absolute garbage, no worries,” he promised her, then she watched as he rolled his eyes. “I stopped watching during the fourth season.”

“Wow, you stuck it out longer than I did,” she replied, then he snickered under his breath. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just… while we’re on the subject of the television we’ve watched—”

“Television? How old  _ are  _ you?” 

“I’m twenty nine,” he told her, then he laughed again. “But anyway, speaking of the  _ TV _ we’ve watched, did you find it hilarious that our flight number was—”

“Eight fucking fifteen?” she asked, then she nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yeah, that flight was cursed from the beginning and neither of us should have ever purchased those tickets.” 

“So that brings us to your opinions on the endings of Lost,” Ben said, then Rey laughed, and reached for the edges of her sleeves. The jacket was long overdue for removal at that point, and she didn’t even care about the fact that she was only wearing a ridiculously tight black top underneath. “What did you think of the ending?”

Rey tossed her jacket into the backseat of the vehicle, and closed her eyes as she rested her head back against the headrest. The air, though not at all cool anymore, washed over her slightly sweaty body as she thought through his question. “Do you really want to know the answer?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I’m very intrigued by it.”

“But I haven’t given it yet.”

“It’s more the…  _ potential  _ of your answer,” he said, then he let out a deep breath. “Did you hate it as much as I did?”

“ _ Hate it?” _ she shrieked, and with that, she found the first flaw she’d seen in Ben Solo, and a debate about the ending of the once beloved show was sparked that lasted the next sixty miles and the first hour of the drive. 

From there, they moved on to talking about politics, which they’d both clearly been a little bit on the fence about discussing, but upon realizing they had the same political opinions, any built up tension in the air - on that particular subject at least - completely dissipated. The politics discussion, though, was much shorter than the one on Lost, which Rey found hilarious for some reason. 

By the time they crossed the border from Utah into Wyoming, the snow was still coming down on them hard, and that quickly became the subject of their next conversation. “I can’t believe it’s still coming down like this,” she breathed, then she turned and looked at Ben. “I really can’t believe that you’ve not crashed the car at this point, though.”

He gave her a nervous smile, then he shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s not that bad. I’m driving about ten miles below the speed limit, though, you just haven’t noticed cause we’ve mostly been on the freeway and it naturally moves fast.”

Rey reached over, and rested a hand on his shoulder, feeling a sense of pride swell within her as this time he was the one to flush beet red. “Something on your mind?”

“Your hand is cold,” he replied, clearly trying - and failing - to keep his voice nonchalant. “And…” He shook not only his head, but his entire upper body seemed to shudder. “Never mind, I’ll finish that sentence later.”

_ What the hell did that mean? _

She let her hand linger on his shoulder for a second longer than she needed to, then she slowly slid it off, letting it glide down the expanse of his bicep before she finally returned it to her own side of the car. A silence settled in between them as they continued driving on down the road. 

The snow had started to let up, but only slightly, and according to the map on Rey’s phone, they still had several hours to go, and weren’t even halfway there yet. A groan left her lips as she realized that they would probably have to stop somewhere for the night, because despite the coffee currently fueling them, both Ben and Rey were exhausted to all hell, and he was still nursing a hangover though he’d deny it. She could see it in the way he still rubbed at his temples whenever their headlights caught the glare of a particularly reflective snowdrift. 

“Everything okay?” he asked curiously. 

She sighed. “Ben, we’re not even close to halfway done and we’re both already getting tired…” she told him, then she scratched her head. “We’re going to have to pull in somewhere for the night. I can pay for it if need be.”

Ben shook his head. “Nonsense, I’m… I don’t want to sound like a class A douchebag, but my family’s pretty well off. All this… not much of a dent in my bank account.”

“Still, it’s polite to offer at the very least,” she insisted, then he shrugged. 

“Where do you think we should stop?”

“Let me look…” Rey zoomed into the map a little ways, following along their route to determine where best would be a rest stop. Their route took them through a much more massive chunk of Wyoming than she’d initially thought, but along the way, almost at the midway point in their journey, she found a place. “Fort Steele?” she asked. “We’re about an hour and a half away.”

“Sounds great,” Ben replied, then he pressed a little harder on the accelerator. Apparently the thought of a warm hotel bed was just as appealing to her as it was to him. “Looks like I was right in the airport about stopping.”

“Yeah, you were…” she said, then she grinned, and turned to face him in her seat. “Ben, do you think we could turn on the radio now? Turn this car into an episode of Glee like you promised?” 

Ben threw his head back, and laughed, then he nodded, and reached down for the radio. Whoever had driven the car last had clearly been a lover of older music, that much was clear as Poison’s  _ Nothin But A Good Time, _ filled the car at a slightly louder volume than either of them had been expecting. Both of them jumped visibly in their seats, and Rey clutched her chest as she calmed down from the sudden scare, then she reached forward, and turned the volume down slightly as she looked over at her traveling companion. The moment their eyes locked they burst into stupid laughter, laughing so hard that their faces turned completely pink, and Ben even had to put on his turn signal, and pull off into the road shoulder. 

They stayed there for a good thirty seconds as the song continued into its second chorus, then Ben looked at her again with his face having returned to its normal coloring and a laughter induced tear streaking down his cheek. “Jesus Christ,” he breathed, then he let out one last, weakened laugh, and pulled them back out onto the highway, and onward to Fort Steele, Wyoming. 

“Maybe not this song, then?” Rey asked, and the corners of Ben’s mouth twitched upward into a smile as they made their way through the dark, snowy, western night. 

“Maybe not, but don’t change the station, I don’t mind this,” he said, then she gave him a kind grin as she leaned back in her seat.  “My dad used to play this song all the time when I was growing up.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, this and Billy Squier’s  _ The Stroke. _ ”

“No.”

“Oh yeah, so picture a tiny little… scrawny thing with big ears screaming ‘stroke me, stroke me,’ at the top of his fucking lungs not knowing what it meant,” he said, a smile still broad on his face as they drove on through the snowy night. “My mother absolutely hated him for it, and I didn’t understand why she got so mad. Then I became a teenager.”

Rey snorted at this, and sighed as she recalled the song that had made her own parents mad at her. “Well, my foster parents weren’t quite as adamant about classic rock as yours were, so I had this best friend - we’re still friends actually - Rose who had this CD player…”

“Right.”

“And well, when we were finishing elementary school,  _ Hot in Here  _ came out.”

“Oh  _ no. _ ”

“Oh, yes. So picture tiny Rey, three buns in her head, yelling about taking off all of her clothes at the ripe old age of… I want to say ten?” 

Ben snickered quietly, then the song on the radio changed to something softer, and  _ Bell Bottom Blues’  _ opening notes filled the car. “Oh, this is a good song.”

“You really do love old music, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do,” he replied, then for a moment they remained quiet again, letting the atmosphere of the song sink into the car as they drove on through the wilderness. Rey looked over at him again, watching his expression sober as they drove on until she heard him quietly singing along with Eric Clapton’s voice when it reached the chorus. Ben’s voice grew a bit louder as the seconds passed, and she couldn’t help but notice - with a thought that it was utterly unfair - that Ben Solo had a lovely voice. It wasn’t enough that he was attractive, absolutely hilarious, and had sent her mind down several raunchy, R rated paths throughout the night already. No, he also had to be able to fucking sing. 

A few seconds later he turned his gaze on her again, and smiled at her while still singing. “Come on, you’re not gonna make me sing this by myself, are you?”

“It’s not the most upbeat duet in the world, Ben,” she protested, then he turned his pleading eyes on her once again. “Fine.” And with that she and Ben’s voices filled the the snowy landscape. Smiles filled both of their faces though they were singing a sad song, and maybe it was just the fact that they sounded nice together or maybe it was something else, the coming of something deeper that neither of them was ready to face having met only hours ago, but that moment was easily becoming one of Rey’s favorites of her entire life. 

By the time that song ended, she was grinning at Ben anew, and as some old Journey song sounded out from the radio, her hand found its way onto his shoulder again, and this time, he didn’t protest it. In fact, one of his hands left the steering wheel, and rested on top of hers. “That was fun,” he said, then he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Kind it makes me think we ought to stay in touch after this.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“So how is it that we’ve lived in the same town the last few years and always managed to miss each other?” he asked, then Rey shrugged, though she supposed it was entirely possible for two people to live so close and have never met. 

“I don’t know, maybe because it’s a bit of a bigger city than a town,” she said, then she shifted in her seat, and rested her other hand over their already joined ones. “I’m glad we did meet, though.”

Ben’s breath caught slightly in his throat, then without tearing his eyes from the road ahead, he gave her his response. “I’m glad we met, too.” The car then fell a little quiet as they finally let go of each other, and continued on down the road. It wasn’t until  _ Sister Christian _ started playing that they finally fell out of silence, and she watched him drum his fingers on the steering wheel. “You ready for round two?”

“Warmed up and ready to hit the stage, boss,” she replied, then she watched a cheshire grin appear on his face, and they sang their way through the remainder of the drive to Fort Steele. 

By the time they pulled into the parking lot of the local Marriott, Rey’s voice was sore and her chest and abdominal muscles hurt from laughing. Despite the night’s rough beginning, it had quickly become one of her all time favorites, and as they walked into the lobby - which she couldn’t help but notice was decked out in Christmas decorations - she was truly feeling the holiday cheer. “Are you sure you’re okay with paying for the room?” she asked him nervously. 

Ben gave her a look as they approached the check in counter. “Rey, I wouldn’t pay for it if I weren’t okay with it, and I promise you. I’m well off enough that this will not hurt me. Please don’t feel bad.”

“It’s just polite, is all,” she promised him again, then he laughed at her as he asked the man on the other side of the desk - a Dopheld Mitaka, according to his nametag - for a room for two. The man looked between them, and nodded before he put Ben’s name in, took his card, handed it back, and then gave them two room keys before wishing them a Merry Christmas. 

Ben returned the favor, but as they walked away, he leaned down and whispered into Rey’s ear, “Listen, I know my family technically gets together for Christmas dinner and all, but the truth is, we’re Jewish.”

Rey snorted her laughter as they walked toward the elevator, and he pressed the up button. Their room was 315, the top floor of the building, which was likely the tallest in the small town of what would up being Rawlin rather than Fort Steele, but she didn’t give a shit about where they were. All she knew was she was gross, smelled like an airport and probably B.O as well, and she wanted to  _ sleep _ . “Let me guess, you did Channukah growing up?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“My foster family did the same thing.”

“Foster family?” he asked, his voice falling soft at the mention of such a thing. He knew, like all the other people whom she’d mentioned it to, exactly the sort of shit that the word implied. 

She let go of her suitcase with one hand, and rested it on his forearm. “Another story for another time, but for now, let’s just get to our room, sleep, shower…”

He let out a low moan, which sent shivers throughout her entire body, causing her to close her eyes as she was nearly overcome with visions of just how she could elicit such noises from him. “Oh, god a shower sounds so fucking good right now.”

“Yeah, I’d bet,” she replied. “Did you even get the chance to shower after your… activities last night?”

Biting his lip - which sent even  _ more _ explicit thoughts rushing through Rey’s absolute hound dog of a brain - Ben shook his head. “No, I was too busy absolutely dying. Then I had to get on a plane to fucking Salt Lake City, and then… I was busy meeting you. So, I can’t really say I regret not showering until now.”

Rey opened her mouth to say something else, but then the elevator finally arrived, it’s steel doors opening into an admittedly rather nice interior that the two of them quickly stepped into. Not wanting to give herself the chance to awkwardly fumble through a response to his declaration though her mind was moving at a million miles an hour at the realization that he thought meeting her was worth the absolutely miserable hangover he’d suffered that day. She was worth something to him, and that was making her heart absolutely hammer against her ribcage, and her stomach do backflips just beneath it. 

Once the button was pressed, they both stepped back, and waited for the doors to close. Rey stared down at the floor, shuffling awkwardly on her feet as they began to move up, then she jumped a little as Ben’s laughter suddenly filled the small car. She turned her vision on him, and quirked a curious eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

He said nothing, he simply smirked as he pointed up, and her eyes wandered up toward the ceiling, where much to her both delight and horror, some asshole had stuck a piece of mistletoe with a little post-it note off to the side reading, “you’re welcome, Merry Christmas.”

Breath leaving her in a sharp rush, she glanced at Ben, and in a moment of boldness, she swallowed her fear, and nodded. “Well, I mean… it is tradition.”

The look of excitement on his face absolutely made her day as he suddenly crossed his arms over his chest, and lowered his voice. “What? You mean you want to…?”

“Ben, we’ve been playing a bit of a game of chicken all night,” she said, then he was grinning at her anew. “Do you really want to lose it?

All he gave her in response was a shake of his head, then he stepped away from his suitcase, and toward her as he uncrossed his arms from his chest. Her hand left her own bag involuntarily, then she took a hesitant step into his personal space, and placed her hands on her hips in an attempt to look confident. It quickly failed, and she simply let her hands fall loose at her sides as she giggled helplessly, and her eyes drifted up to meet his. 

At this close range, she had to crane her neck a little in order to see him. From there she could see all of the tiny little details of his face, those little details that definitely shouldn’t have worked together, but for some fucking reason they did, damn him. She took in a deep, shaky, nervous breath. “So who moves first, do you move first or do I-”

Ben wasn’t slow about it, but in the split second between that very instant and his lips on hers, he gave her another look asking for her consent, and without having to say a damn thing she gave it. Before anyone could even blink, he was kissing her, and Rey’s head started spinning as her eyes closed in the sort of way that made her see those little colorful dots she always saw whenever she got dizzy, the sort that resembled sparks of electricity. 

The lift continued to rise slowly up as Rey responded to the kiss, returning it with the same sort of electric passion he was giving her as something registered in her brain that this didn’t feel like any ordinary first kiss. Sometimes they felt just plain awkward or weird, or even if they were kind of hot and heated like this one, they didn’t manage to incite that same sort of electricity in her that others did. No, this one was the sort of thing she thought only existed in fiction. It was even better than something out of a dream, not even her most intense fantasies had managed to capture the feeling of this simple, closed-mouthed kiss.

Something about Ben Solo’s lips caressing hers was a new sort of magic, and she’d never been more grateful toward a piece of mistletoe in her life as she reached up and pressed her hands to his chest, kissing him until the doors opened on the third floor of the hotel a few seconds later. Once she heard that familiar ping of the lift, she slowly pulled away from him, though her eyes didn’t open until she had to turn back to find the handle of her suitcase. As she opened them, she couldn’t help but notice the hunger in his still somewhat hooded eyes, which filled her with a sense of pride as she walked casually out into the hallway, and followed the signs for room 315. 

Ben said nothing as he followed behind her, and she hoped that he couldn’t see the stupid look on her face nor the blush that had been almost consistently plastered on her cheeks since the moment they’d started flirting. She wasn’t quite sure when that was, but since almost the minute they met she’d felt consistently too warm, like she was boiling just under the surface. 

Their room number came up a little too quickly, and Rey desperately wanted to just throw open the door and drag him inside, but alas, he was the one with the keys. Instead, she stepped aside, and let an equally blushing Ben walk past her, and he unlocked their room with a visibly shaky hand she was all too able to relate to. They walked in one after the other, with Rey taking the lead into the well lit, inviting looking room complete with a closet, a business desk, a bathroom, and… one king-sized bed. She paused as she took in the bed, feeling that electricity that had sparked within her during the kiss with Ben rise up again as she looked at it and thought through all of the implications of a single bed hotel room. 

“Oh, shit,” Ben breathed, then she watched him let go of the room’s door, letting it fall shut behind him as he walked further into the room. “I forgot to ask for two beds.”

Rey shrugged, trying and probably failing again to appear unfazed by it. “Well, we’re both adults, I think we can manage.”

“You’re okay with this?”

“Only if you are.”

The awkwardness lingering between them slowly began to dissipate as he walked further into the room, all the way over to the far side where a window overlooked the snowy landscape. “I call this side of the bed,” he announced almost childishly. 

An amused snort left her as she bent down, and grabbed her suitcase before bringing it over to the opposite side of the bed. “You can honestly have whatever side of the bed you want, as long as you don’t snore.”

“I don’t snore.” He flopped himself down on the bed then, crossing one leg casually over the other as he relaxed into the mattress. She could practically see Ben reach Nirvana as his head sank into the pillow, and another, gloriously low moan left his lips. He was really going to have to stop doing that if she was going to survive the night. 

“Great,” she replied, pushing her thoughts away from Ben’s fucking sinful moans. “Then I call first shower.” With that, she promptly hauled ass into the bathroom, ignoring his protests that she wasn’t being fair with a giggle as she locked the door behind her, and moved to turn on the shower. It was entirely, perfectly fair that she claimed that first. After all, he’d claimed his side of the bed first. 

Ben knocked on the door with a thousand excuses for why he should get the shower first spilling from his lips. They were mostly all about the night he’d had and the fact that he’d likely gone without a shower longer than she’d gone, but she didn’t listen. Once she started thinking about his lips, she couldn’t stop remembering how they’d felt against hers. It had just been a casual mistletoe kiss, and yet when he’d interrupted her mid-sentence it felt like it was point A with an indeterminate point B, and perhaps point B didn’t even exist. For all she knew, the line never ended between them, and that was somehow the most terrifying realization she’d ever come to. 

Shaking that thought from her mind, Rey adjusted the water temperature to damn near scalding, and began to strip off her remaining layers. The night was going to be long enough without the layer of grime resting on her skin, and something told her that they wouldn’t be getting nearly as much sleep that night as they’d hoped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song they're listening to is a wonderful one so here's [ "Bell Bottom Blues"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKAYGVIkbok) just in case you didn't know it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I upped the chapter count BECAUSE I HAVE ZERO SELF CONTROL AND THIS IS GETTING OUT OF HAND. I could entirely write this prompt to 50k but like THERES ONE LAST SHRED OF CONTROL LEFT IN ME I SWEAR.

Rey stepped out of the shower feeling the most relaxed she’d felt in ages. After the long ass day she’d had, she was owed a break, and for the first thirty seconds after she turned off the water and wrapped herself in one of the white towels provided by the hotel, she got one. 

Her break, however, was quickly replaced by an all consuming fear as she realized that the only clothes she’d brought in the bathroom were the ones she walked in wearing. That wouldn’t have been a problem if those clothes didn’t reek of rental car and airport on top of a hint of body odor, but unfortunately for her they did, and they needed to be shoved into her suitcase immediately before anything else. 

Taking in a deep breath, she secured the towel tightly around her body, and swallowed back her nerves. They were adults. They could handle this. Ben could handle seeing a woman in a towel. He seemed like the type who’d had sex, and maybe he wasn’t a slut, or it had been a while, but he’d had sex, and he could handle himself around a naked-save-for-a-towel Rey. Sure, they were strangers, but they’d already been through more together than a lot of people she knew. The two of them had bonded over fucking Lay’s salt and vinegar crisps for god’s sake. Everything was casual between them… except for the fact that just fifteen minutes ago he’d kissed the life back into her in an elevator. 

They could do this, she had faith in him. Whether or not she had faith in herself not to immediately drop the towel if he asked was a whole other question entirely. 

A moment later, Rey reached down and grabbed her clothes in a pile before she turned toward the door, and grasped the knob in her hand. “I just want to warn you, I’m only wearing a towel.”

There was a slight pause, as if he were processing her words and choosing his own response very carefully before she could somehow almost see the smirk developing on his face. “You’re taking this game too seriously,” he said, then she snorted her laughter, feeling relief ease its way back into her system as she opened the door, and stepped out of the bathroom. 

“It’s all yours,” she told him, not missing the way his eyes skimmed up her long, bare legs as she walked into the main part of the room. His gaze was appreciative, full of mischief, and dare she say it, a little hungry. He tossed her a wink that definitely didn’t help her urge to drop the towel and ask him to throw her onto the bed, but she somehow managed to keep her hold on the damn thing as he strode into the bathroom. 

She didn’t let out her breath until she heard the shower turn on, then she collapsed onto their bed -  _ their bed - _ not caring that she was technically lying on his side for the time being, she just needed to lie down somewhere for the next three seconds while she thought through how she’d make it through that night without losing her mind. There was something between them, from the constant flirting to the game they’d devised that literally had the purpose of driving one another absolutely crazy… 

A tiny groan that she hoped wasn’t audible left her as she sat up, and finally moved to get her pyjamas out of her suitcase. By the time Ben walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she was sitting on her side of the bed scrolling casually through her messages, letting Poe know that she’d be late getting back to town since their flight was canceled but that she’d rented a car… She didn’t quite mention Ben, though, knowing how Poe would talk her ear of with questions about him if she did. 

She set down her phone as he walked over to his own suitcase, and her jaw dropped as she realized that he, too was in a towel, and this time her groan was much more audible. “You’re kidding me,” she said, trying her absolute hardest to disguise the way she was grazing her eyes over his well sculpted torso. “Oh, that’s just not fair.”

Ben threw his head back in laughter as he grabbed his own change of clothes from his bag, then he shrugged casually as he practically  _ swaggered  _ into the fucking bathroom to change. She would swear on her best friends’ lives that she could still hear him snickering away in there as he changed into his own pyjamas, and she was about to march in there and smack him senseless, naked or not. He’d deserve it, too, the asshole.

When he walked out of the bathroom, Rey’s heart had a further intense series of palpitations. Ben was wearing a casual pair of black and white plaid bottoms, but his shirt was a plain, white, tight fitting thing that managed to show off most of the contours of his muscled torso. It wasn’t fucking fair, and she was absolutely going to die. It didn’t help her any further when he flopped onto the bed like a child, his entire body bouncing up as he looked at her with a stupid grin on his face.  _ Damn him. _

That smile still parting his lips, he lifted himself up, and slipped underneath the covers with her, the whole bed shifting with him as he settled in beside her, then he gestured casually toward their bedside lamp as if he hadn’t just put on a show that had driven her more insane than the world’s best stripper. “Mind if I turn this off?”

Rey shook her head. “Not at all, I wanted to turn in for the night anyway,” she said, yawning as she realized just how tired she’d become. “We’ve got a long drive tomorrow.”

“Yeah, we do,” he replied, then he reached over, and turned out the light. “Good night, Rey.”

“Night, Ben.” 

They then settled somewhat comfortably into the darkness, and Rey shifted onto her side, turning to face the wall so she’d be able to render null the risk of reaching out to hold him in the night. In all the times she’d shared a bed with someone, she’d apparently had the tendency to do that. The evidence of such a thing existed in the form of quite a few memories of waking up to find a warm body in her arms. She had every reason to believe she’d try to do that same thing that night. 

As tired as she’d been just moments earlier, or even when they’d first walked into the hotel, she wasn’t feeling even the slightest trace of that now. No, Rey was a livewire, sparking and crackling with energy, and she felt like she was about to combust. There would be no sleeping while she was in this state. There was no way in hell. 

A tiny groan leaving her lips, she pulled her phone out from under her pillow and checked the time. The clock went from 11:59 to midnight right before her eyes. It was officially Christmas Day, and she let out an amused snort. 

“What’s so funny?” Ben asked softly, and she heard him shift on the bed. From the way the bed moved, he was now lying on his back, but he was undoubtedly looking at her since she could feel his eyes on the back of her head. 

Rey turned around, and held out her phone screen. “It’s officially Christmas,” she said, then she put her phone back under the pillow and shrugged. “Useless holiday for people like us.”

“I don’t know, it’s not that bad. Means the restaurants will be less crowded when we hit the road tomorrow.”

“You plan on stopping? We don’t have much time.”

“I think we have enough time for me to ask you out to breakfast with me,” he said, then Rey felt her heart pounding in her chest again. 

“What?” 

“I’m trying to ask you if you’ll... go out with me,” he mumbled nervously, then he cleared his throat. “But don’t feel obligated to say yes, I definitely get it if you want to tell me no.”

A part of her wondered if he could see the smile that had erupted on her face. If he did, he didn’t acknowledge it, and he continued to stare at her with the hopeful glint in his eyes that was the only thing she really could see of him as she gave him a nod. “Yeah, that sounds lovely, actually,” she replied, then she shifted a couple of inches closer. “Now who’s taking this game too seriously?”

Ben chuckled quietly, so much so that she almost couldn’t hear it, but it was just loud enough to remind her that she liked the sound of his laugh. “Who kissed who first in that elevator?”

“Oh, ho, ho, mister I seem to remember that was  _ you  _ making the first move.”

“Maybe but to be fair, you were the one who was going on about tradition and losing chicken,” he pointed out, then she watched as he shifted onto his side. “And when you look at me like that… with your eyes a little hooded even though you’re looking up? What the hell was I supposed to do?” 

Rey’s mind went into an absolute frenzy at that, and her mouth opened and closed like one of those fish she always saw at aquariums that did nothing but stare at her and move their jaw as if they were talking very, very slowly. “Well, when you put it like that… Maybe it was my fault,” she said, unsure of where the confidence to say anything came from, but she was certainly grateful for it. 

Another soft snort of laughter left him, and she felt the nervous tension building in the air between them as he took in a deep breath. “Would you mind if I did it again?”

Her own breath caught in her throat, but she managed to nod. “Not at all,” she replied, then she shifted forward another few inches, which he definitely noticed as he reached up, and rested a warm palm that encompassed a part of her jaw and cheek. “In fact, I’d prefer we stop talking, and…”

Again he didn’t let her finish her sentence, though this time it wasn’t because he’d abruptly leaned forward and cut her off. This time it was because he started to inch his way toward her at a much slower pace than he had in the lift. By that point, her eyes were successfully adjusting to the dark, and she could just make out the outlines of the features of his face as he moved steadily toward her. “Ben,” she whispered, his lips just a hair’s breadth away from hers, then her breathing shook just as his hand swept a piece of hair back behind her ear. 

His fingers weaved their way into her brunette locks as he finally kissed her, this kiss much more tender than the first, mistletoe induced one that had left her head spinning and her entire body feeling electric. This one made her feel as though she’d melted into a puddle, as if with every slow, lazy brush of his lips against hers she was becoming one with the mattress they were both lying upon. 

After a few seconds, the kiss picked up its pace, and Ben began to move over her, causing her to roll onto her back, the sheets crumpling loudly as he propped himself up on one arm so as not to crush her while they kissed. She let out a soft moan as he settled over her, and one of his legs nudged its way between hers, the top of his thigh brushing just inches from the apex of hers - which certainly didn’t help the absolutely not safe for work direction her thoughts had been taking throughout the night. 

Ben deepened the kiss once he’d finally found a perfect position on top of her, his tongue sweeping its way into her mouth in a way that reignited that feeling from the lift where she’d nearly collapsed. She’d never been more grateful in her life that she was already in a bed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, weaving her hands through that long, dark hair she’d been fantasizing about since virtually the moment they’d met. It was easily one of the softest things she’d ever touched, the waves smooth beneath her fingertips as she ran them over each little ridge created by the texture of his hair. 

This time it was him who moaned into the kiss when she tugged on it just a little, the sound making her smile a little as she returned his kiss with what she could only hope was the same passion he was giving her. At least, she tried to, but she was slowly starting to run out of oxygen. She pulled away from the kiss with a gasp as she fed her lungs sweet, sweet air, and just barely held back a laugh when she realized he was doing the same thing, the both of them panting hard in the warm, dry air of the hotel room. 

He let out a long sigh as he rested his forehead against hers, his hair falling into her face a little as they laid there like that for a moment, processing this second kiss in a way they hadn’t quite been able to process the first. Rey’s hands slipped down to cup his jaw as she recovered from her lack of oxygen, unable to tell whether it was that or the mere feeling of kissing him that was making her dizzy. If she’d had to bet money on it, she would’ve probably said it was a fair mix of both. Ben was intoxicating to be around, and within just hours of meeting him she’d already realized she didn’t want him to leave her after this - not permanently at least. All she knew for sure was that she wanted him in her life, and if their conversation in the car earlier was anything, he wanted her, too. 

“Holy hell,” she breathed, trying to form some semblance of a sentence as she came down from the high that was kissing Ben. If this was how she reacted to a god damned kiss, she could only imagine what  _ other things  _ would be like with him. She didn’t know what to even think much less what to  _ say.  _ How did one react to experiencing one of the greatest kisses of their entire lifetime?

“My thoughts exactly,” he replied with a small laugh. “You’d think we’d be tired after all the shit we’ve been through but…” he paused, breaking away from her briefly to shake his head, his soulful eyes looking down at her as if he were trying to read her emotions. “I feel…”

“Yeah, me too.” She stroked his cheek gently with her thumb, hoping he was alright with the gesture. “Just half an hour ago I was ready to pass out, but… Now I think I might stay awake all night?”

Ben quirked an eyebrow, the motion only just visible in the darkness, but she still managed to catch it along with the mischief now in his eyes. “All night?”

“All night,” she repeated. 

“That’s an awful lot of time, Rey.” There was an almost playful tone to his voice, more upbeat and teasing than seductive given what she knew he was suggesting with a sentence like that. It certainly wasn’t a pillow fight. “You’d have to find some way to occupy yourself.”

“Yeah, I would,” she replied, snickering quietly. “What about you? If you’re as awake as me…”

“I think I need to figure out how to waste my time, too.”

Another wave of confidence that she hadn’t known she was capable of filled her in that moment, but she still shut her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak. “Then let’s stop beating around the bush and talk about what we both want here,” she said, then her hands slid down to his chest, feeling his heart beating beneath his chest, feeling it rise and fall with each heavy breath he took. “Because I want  _ you _ , and… It’s time I stopped denying it.”

His breath hitched, she felt it beneath her palms, and he took a minute to compose himself before replying, “I think we’re on the same page,” very quietly, to the point where his voice was nearly a whisper. 

“Good,” she said, then she leaned forward, and pressed a brief, but lingering kiss to his lips. “But if you’re not up for anything… serious… I’m more than happy to just lie here and… make out with you for a few hours… More than okay with it.”

“I’d be okay with that, too,” Ben replied with a laugh, then he leaned forward a little, his breath ghosting over her lips as he pressed her back into the mattress again. “But Rey, I think you’ll find that I’m…” He shifted a little so that one of his hips was almost perfectly aligned with one of hers, and she felt his erection brush against her thigh, sending shivers up her spine as he leaned down by her ear and spoke again. “More than okay with something more serious.”

Rey shivered, letting out a noise somewhere between a whimper and a moan as one of his hands slowly began to glide its way down the side of her body, those fingers she’d had thoughts about from the moment they’d reached into her crisps bag sliding over her waist. “I don’t think we’re playing a game anymore,” she whispered, then he laughed again, a low chuckle that sent those shivers right to the apex of her thighs. 

“Rey, I don’t think we’ve been playing a game all night,” he admitted, then he leaned down, and pressed a kiss to her neck, causing her to shudder beneath him as her hands slid up to wrap around his neck again, twirling a piece of his hair loosely in her fingers in case she needed something to grab onto, to anchor herself to the earth. “It was always just an excuse.”

He was right, she knew damn well he was right, but she didn’t want to acknowledge it just yet, so she let out a sort of frustrated grunt, and tugged on his hair just enough to force him up, then she leaned up to press her lips to his. Ben hummed contentedly as he returned it, though maybe that had more to do with the fact that she’d slipped her leg out from under him, and hooked it around his, pulling him more closely against her. 

With his lips now locked firmly on hers, Rey’s hands drifted down to his shoulders, bunching the fabric of his t-shirt in both hands as she tugged on it gently, hinting to him not at all subtly that the clothing needed to come off immediately. Ben groaned as he pulled away, then with one arm, he reached behind himself, and tugged the shirt up and over his head before sliding it down his other arm, and tossing it to the floor by their bedside. The second his shirt was gone he was crawling over her again, lowering his mouth to her neck, pressing a much longer, deeper kiss to the sensitive skin there before he sucked it into his mouth, leaving a mark on her that nearly had her arching into him already. 

She occupied herself with letting her hands run down his well-muscled torso, letting her fingers skim over every single contour until her fingers reached the waistband of his pants, then she let them drift back up so she was once again at home in his hair. The pants could come off later, after all, they had all night. Ben’s skin was smooth and warm beneath her hands, and while the freezing air had yet to infiltrate their warm hotel room, she had a feeling that his body alone would be enough to keep her from feeling the cold. 

Ben released her skin, and only after he moved on to press a kiss lower down on her neck did it occur to her that her friends would definitely see this when she went to see them tomorrow. Poe would roast her into oblivion for showing up to his big proposal with a massive and very obvious hickey. In that moment, she decided that Poe could kiss her ass. It had been forever since she got laid, and she had more than earned this night in the middle of bum-fuck, Wyoming. 

His assault on her neck coming to an end, he moved back up to claim her lips with his own as a hand began to sneak its way beneath the fabric of her shirt. The feeling of his hand slowly making its way up the smooth planes of her own abdomen had her trembling beneath him as he unintentionally moved the fabric up. The tips of his fingers brushed the underside of her bare breast, and Rey already knew she was going to pass on into oblivion before he even moved to cover the rest of it in his enormous fingers. He hadn’t even done anything yet, but when his fingers brushed over her already hard nipple she groaned into the kiss. 

A second later, Ben broke away from her to chuckle, but quickly resumed kissing her the moment she smacked his shoulder gently and told him to “Shut it.” He then kissed her deeply, passionately, his tongue meeting hers with a practiced skill that felt like it had been honed to perfection for  _ her  _ and her alone. She moaned against him again as he finally ran his thumb over her nipple, circling it slowly, languidly as he applied just enough pressure to drive her absolutely insane.

“Ben,” she breathed as she broke the kiss, but all she got in response was a smirk she couldn’t even be sure was a smirk before he pressed a gentle kiss to the line of her jaw, then he turned the hand he had under her shirt around, and grabbed the thin cotton. 

“We’re a bit uneven,” he said casually, though there was a very obvious underlying meaning to his words. “I think we should fix that.”

Rey laughed, but gave him a nod, and he slid his hand out from under her shirt, and pushed himself up off of her a little as she tugged it off. She tossed it casually on the floor with his, then he settled over her again, only this time he positioned himself right between her thighs, allowing her to feel his erection just barely touching her entrance once more. Ben shifted slightly above her, though she couldn’t quite tell if he meant to grind against her or not as the feeling shot straight through her clit. 

Either way her breathing shook as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close as she reunited their lips, her hands winding their way into his hair as she again hooked a leg around him, then ground against him, and it was Ben who cried out next, breaking their kiss to swear loudly. A small grin grew on her face as she looked into his eyes, and he laughed, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of her nose. “Game on,” he told her, then he paused, as if remembering something, and she watched a frown grow on Ben’s face. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have any condoms,” he replied, then he glanced up at her nervously. “And I don’t think either one of us wants anything we don’t already have.”

“I’m clean, but yeah, it’s probably a good idea not to… go there tonight…” she breathed, beginning to stroke his hair gently as they talked. “But we could…”

“Yeah?”

“We could do other things… I was rather starting to like what we were doing before you stopped…”

Ben groaned delightedly, pressing another passionate kiss to her lips. “Where the fuck have you been all my life?”

“Stop talking and kiss me again, you idiot,” she replied, then Ben, always the saint, did exactly what he was told, and he kissed her in that way that made her entire body feel like it was electric. A soft groan left her lips as he suddenly left her, but she quickly lost any reason to complain as he began to plant open mouthed kisses along her collarbone, definitely leaving a mark that would most certainly be visible when she ate with Finn and Poe the next evening. 

Those kisses trailed further down onto the top of her left breast, the one he’d neglected earlier, and as she realized what he was intending to do, Rey started trembling beneath him with anticipation. He hadn’t even laid a hand where she most wanted him to yet, but she was fairly certain that by the end of their time together - though with them living in the same city, there was no telling when that would be - she would have melted into the mattress. 

When his mouth finally closed around her nipple, his tongue swirling around the erect peak, she was swearing loudly enough that she was certain the other people in the hotel must have heard her. Rey could only hope that no one would interrupt them from the noise they were undoubtedly making. She pushed the thought from her mind as her fingers resumed their favorite habit of threading through his hair and tugging on it ever so slightly as his mouth made its work on her left breast. 

“Listen, I want to make this clear this is no one night stand,” she told him, taking in a deep breath as best she could with how hard she’d started to pant. “I just… I know we haven’t done anything yet… but…”

Ben pulled away from her, resting one of his hands over her heart. “I was thinking the same thing, don’t worry,” he replied quietly, letting his fingers drift over her nipple, casually - almost absentmindedly - stroking it with his fingers as he spoke. “Cause I was being serious earlier, I did want to ask you if you’d want to go to lunch tomorrow, and not just as the courtesy of buying you food after we do this… but… I wanted to get to know you a little more.”

Rey’s heart was absolutely pounding in her chest, and she knew he could feel it as he gave her another small smile, then he leaned up to kiss her lips again while his hand continued its lazy but well practiced strokes. His erection was just brushing up against her clit, and they kissed, he started to grind it against her, causing arousal to spike throughout her entire body as she registered just how good it felt. It had been a while -  _ ages - _ since she’d even been with her own fucking hand. She’d almost forgotten how good it felt to be touched, but Ben was doing an efficient job at reminding her. 

As his kiss stole her breath, she worked to steal his, meeting him with every single thrust he gave against her as they began to work one another toward their orgasms. Who would finish first, though, was an excellent question she desperately wanted to be the answer to. Ben broke their kiss again to almost whisper her name into her ear, which made her shake beneath him for a second as she registered the deep, low rumble of his voice. 

He then turned his head, and pressed a kiss to her neck as he began to grind against her a little faster, both of them picking up the pace, and she suddenly realized that it wouldn’t take the two of them long at all to come. Rey slowed her movements after that thought, and he matched her in turn. Their breathing became hard as she began to run her hands over the expanse of his chest, letting her thumb brush over  _ his _ nipple this time - which earned her a soft little moan - as her hands continued exploring the firm ridges of his muscles. 

They continued their work moving around his waist, her fingertips brushing over the waistband of his trousers as her hands slipped onto his ass. One of his slid up to cup her jaw as he kissed her again, then he let out a low hum of contentment as she squeezed him through the flannel. She smiled in satisfaction as her hands drifted up his back, and into his hair, gripping it tightly as she started to feel herself growing closer to finishing. 

This time it was Rey who broke the kiss to press a few to his neck, wanting to exact revenge for the marks he’d left on her skin by providing him with at least one of his own. If she was going to show up to a proposal with hickeys, he could explain to his parents why he had them. It was only fair. Still, it took all of her focus to suck the skin of his neck ever so gently into her mouth as she started to lose focus of the world around her. The feeling of Ben’s erection grinding against her was starting to make her see stars. 

Somehow she managed, creating a little bruise just at the top of his neck that he’d have no hope of hiding come the next morning. “Now we’re even,” she whispered as she pulled away, then he started laughing before she could kiss him again, throwing his head back just out of reach. 

“You suck, you know that?” he told her breathlessly. “I was this close, and then…  _ fuck… _ ” He groaned as she met him forcefully with another thrust, which elicited a similar noise from her own lips as she realized she felt much the same way. 

“Me too, but close or not, I’m still going to get revenge.”

“If that’s how you get revenge, Rey, we’re going to get along just fine.”

“We already do,” she replied, then she gasped as he thrust against her with just the right amount of pressure that she nearly tumbled over the edge. “ _ Fuck,  _ Ben, I’m going to come.”

He gave her a subtle nod, one she almost missed in the haze that clouded her vision as they rocked against one another. “So am I,” he said, then he brought his lips down to hers in tandem with another thrust of his hips, and she moaned loudly enough to wake up the whole state of Wyoming as she finally came. Ben wasn’t far behind, breaking away from her just enough to let out an equally loud noise as he joined her at her peak, one of his hands reaching for one of hers, lacing their fingers together as they rode out their orgasms, holding onto one another like they were each other’s lifelines. 

Rey let out a long, shaky breath as she finally started coming down from her high, barely registering the feeling of Ben resting his forehead against her as his thrusts slowly came to a stop. Both of them were panting hard in the aftermath, and she felt a bead of sweat making its way down her forehead as Ben kissed her again, the kiss slow and long, dragging on for what must’ve been several minutes - save for the occasional break for oxygen - as they wound down. 

It was then that Rey felt the true extent of her exhaustion from the day as she kissed him, but she put it off for a few seconds as she gripped the hand that held hers tightly, running her thumb over the back of his in gentle, slothful strokes. The hand that was in his hair mimicked a similar action as she broke away from the kiss, and sighed peacefully. “Shit,” she murmured. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“Well, don’t die yet.” He chuckled softly, then he pressed a small, closed-mouthed kiss to her lips. 

“Nah, no worries, I’ll wait a couple of days, then I’ll die,” she replied, then he snorted his laughter, and rolled off of her, causing her to groan at the loss of his warmth above her as he got up out of the bed, and stretched before walking over to his suitcase. “Where are you going?”

“Well, you see Rey, when you come in your pants-  _ Ow! _ ” He cried as she threw a pillow at him, laughing like a hyena as he rubbed his arm as though actually wounded. 

“Calm down, it was just a pillow.”

“You’ll pay for that later,” he promised, then he grabbed a piece of clothing out of his suitcase, and strode back over to her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Rey snickered quietly as she leaned up and gripped his hair, and pulled him in for a brief, but searing kiss. “You better,” she said, then she flopped back against the mattress as he walked into the bathroom, counting down the seconds until he emerged again wondering where the hell her shirt had wound up. She could have asked Ben to grab it for her when he got out, or she could have simply just slept without it. 

He walked out of the bathroom just over a minute later as promised wearing a new pair of trousers, which also happened to be a plaid pattern with red and black instead of white. She shifted over in the bed to make room for him as he rejoined her beneath the sheets, then he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer as he gently kissed the top of her head. “You think you’re tired now?”

A yawn left her lips then, providing him the only response he needed as he laughed,  and she blushed in the dark of their room. “Shut up,” she whispered, then she sighed as she pressed her hands to his chest, relishing in how warm he felt beneath her touch. “It’s Christmas, don’t be rude to me on Christmas.”

“Yeah… Merry Christmas, Rey.”

“Merry Christmas, Ben. And good night,” she said, then she turned around in his arms, and let him pull her back flush against the front of his body. 

She then heard him whisper very quietly, “Good night,” then she closed her eyes, and for the first time in ages, Rey finally got a decent night’s sleep resting in his arms. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got long and out of control and as a result there may be a sixth chapter. Don't blame me, blame Rey and Ben, they have minds of their own. And wow this got a bit more smutty than I predicted. Whoops.

The morning was quiet, warm, and all around serene. Rey felt more content than she had in ages, perfectly at peace wherever she was. In those first moments before she remembered the events of the day before, that could have been anywhere. 

Her memories came flooding back upon feeling a long muscular arm flexing around her waist, a hand cupping her bare breast as Ben pulled her close against him in his sleep. It was then she remembered what they’d done the night before as she rested her hand over his, swearing she could feel her heart beating heavily beneath both of their palms. 

It was Christmas morning, her flight had been canceled the night before, she’d taken a rental car with a stranger, stopped at a hotel room in the middle of Wyoming, and dry humped him just hours after they’d met. In the present, she was lying beside him in bed, basking in the morning after glow that combined with the happy energy of the holiday to create the perfect atmosphere to wake up to. 

Ben stirred quietly behind her, but did not wake. Still the action was enough that she felt his erection pressing up against her ass, and while she knew it was a natural thing and she really had very little to do with it, she felt a twinge of smugness. Maybe he wasn’t awake, but his cock certainly seemed to be. 

He hummed against her skin, his breath hot on the back of her neck, causing her to laugh, and in turn, she finally heard the sound of a very awake groan as his muscles tightened around her again. A soft moan left her as his hand squeezed her breast ever so slightly, then she froze until she heard the sound of Ben’s laughter rumbling within his chest. 

“Good morning,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the base of her neck. 

She let out an embarrassed noise somewhere between a laugh and a cough. “Um, good morning.”

“Did you forget where you were for a minute? Cause I did.”

“Oh for sure, but I always do,” she said, then she grinned. “But something about waking up shirtless with your hand on my tit helped me remember.”

The hand in question brushed a thumb over her nipple, and she gasped from the contact, not even feeling remotely bashful that it had already pebbled just from one, tiny flick alone. “This hand?” he asked. 

“Fuck you.”

“Believe me, I’d love to, but while I think we’d probably have a pretty cute kid...”

“Ah, would we?”

“I don’t know, it would have excellent genetics, but we’ve known each other for less than a day, so I think we should probably move on from this subject before I  _ thoroughly _ embarrass myself.”

They both laughed at this, then Rey slowly turned around in the bed, and pressed a finger into his chest, feeling smug again when she realized he was blushing. “I don’t know, you’re cute when you’re flustered,” she teased, then he only flushed further as he looked down. She caught his chin in one of her hands. “Hey, don’t be embarrassed. Actually… please keep saying stupid things I want to see if I can make you a tomato.”

Ben snorted at that, then he looked up at her, and slowly leaned forward, pressing a gentle, lingering kiss to her lips. Rey closed her eyes as she returned it, slipping her hand up to caress his cheek, and letting her lips part and come together against his in perfect harmony as the sunlight slowly started streaming in more potently through the windows. She wondered if he could feel the sun on his back, they hadn’t exactly bothered to close the blinds before they went to bed. They’d been too busy relieving themselves of their tension. 

The kiss started to grow in intensity as his tongue swept along her lower lip, requesting access she willingly gave as he slowly rolled on top of her, his weight pressing her into the bed, but not crushingly so as he deepened the kiss. 

Already the morning was quickly becoming Rey’s favorite Christmas. For most of her life, she’d been single. Sure, she’d hooked up on occasion, used tinder a time or two, but she’d never really had a serious relationship. Despite the existence of cuffing season, she’d never had anyone on the holidays, this Christmas was the first she’d spent waking up in someone’s arms, the first she was able to just roll over and be kissed like she’d already died and went to heaven. 

She had a good feeling it wouldn’t be the last. 

Eventually, though, he pulled away, much to her disappointment. She groaned as he rolled away from her, and checked the time on his phone. Ben muttered a series of swears that would make a sailor blush, then he turned back to her. “It’s half past nine. We need to go if we’re gonna make it back home in time.”

Rey gave him a disappointed pout, then he grinned. “Time to get up.”

“No,” she protested, burying herself beneath the covers with a mischievous smile on her face. She knew he wouldn’t just let her stay there, and she knew it well, but whatever it was that he did do, she was eager to find out. Ben appeared beneath the sheets with her a minute later, wrapping her up in his arms as he tickled her senselessly, causing her to shriek and gasp with delight. 

The tickling, however, became something else rather quickly. His wandering fingers found themselves at the waistband of her trousers, and suddenly he stopped. They both froze, knowing what that sort of thing could lead to. She glanced up at him beneath the white of the sheets, watching as his hooded eyes locked with hers, and he slipped a finger beneath the fabric of her waistband. “Rey, can I…?”

“Do it. Whatever you’re thinking… do it,” she breathed, then his lips parted in a smirk, but it quickly fell from his face as he leaned forward to capture her lips in another kiss, letting his hand slowly make its way down beneath the fabric of her pants, slipping beneath the underwear she’d casually thrown on the night before not long after. Her breathing grew a little more ragged between kisses as his fingers grazed closer and closer to her apex, her eyes falling shut as he finally let one of his fingers slip over her clit, gliding over her entrance as she moaned against him. 

She’d fantasized about those fingers at various points in the evening before, but now that they’d spent the night together, now that they knew what it was to bring one another to orgasm, the fantasies had not only intensified, but they had somehow, miraculously, become reality. As a finger gently pressed inside of her, Rey realized very quickly that she was definitely not going to last long, especially if he decided to start stroking her with more than one. 

Another whimper escaped her into the kiss, followed by a full body tremor as his finger steadily sheathed itself fully inside of her. She gasped against him as he then pressed his thumb to her clit, and began to rub little circles in it as he curled his finger inside of her. “ _ Fuck, _ ” she breathed, breaking away from the kiss just enough to find air. There was no way she’d make it without oxygen if he kept going like that. 

She could feel herself growing wet around his finger as he slowly began to drag it out of her, only to press back in, picking up his pace as he rested his forehead against hers. Her breath hitched when she felt another, thick finger press inside of her along with it, reaching deep to that one spot she needed him most. She let out a deep moan as he continued thrusting his fingers into her with a passion she’d never seen in a partner before. 

“Ben,” she breathed, then she let out a soft moan as he leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to the line of her jaw, slowly trailing them down to the sensitive skin of her neck. “ _ Ben…” _

Rey was going to lose her damn mind if he kept doing that; if he kept fucking her with his thick fingers— kept rubbing at her clit with an increasingly swift pace. As her orgasm slowly started building, Rey fisted a hand into his hair while his kisses slowly started moving back down to her chest. A loud swear left her as they trailed down over the swell of one of her breasts, and he winked at her before taking her nipple into his mouth. 

The hand in his hair held on tightly as he swirled his tongue around it, causing her to gasp for breath from all he was doing to her. It was almost too much. In fact, it was almost overwhelming how good he was making her feel. The hotel room in the quiet, western town already offered them silence and solitude, but with how close he’d already brought her to finishing, all of her problems, her concerns about whether or not she’d make it home in time for her friend’s proposal, melted away all over again. 

Ben pulled away from her nipple for a second, causing her to groan, but as his finger pressed down a little harder on her clit, she found she didn’t care as much. “Are you close?” he asked quietly. 

“Y-yes, god yes,” she replied, feeling heat pooling in her stomach as her breath started coming out in short little pants. “ _ Fuck,  _ Ben.”

All he gave her in response was a chuckle, then his mouth descended on her other nipple, and she cried out his name again as she came, her entire body feeling absolutely alive as her orgasm rushed through it. Euphoria she hadn’t known in too long— before the night prior, at least— flooded her brain, her jaw falling open as she tried desperately to steal oxygen from the air, and Ben’s fingers continued to stroke her through it all. 

He didn’t stop until she was completely finished, until her moans turned into quiet, little gasps, and finally he withdrew his hand, making her mourn the loss of him almost instantly as he pulled away from her breasts as well, but not for long. Ben quickly reunited his lips with hers, and she hummed into it, wanting nothing more than to just lie there in the bed and kiss him all day. Unfortunately, it was Christmas morning, she had somewhere to be that night, and they still needed to have breakfast somewhere. 

With a groan, she pulled away from him, resting her hands against his chest as she sighed. “We need to get moving.”

This time it was his turn to groan. “Ah, you’re no fun.”

“We both have places to be, Ben,” she said with a giggle, then she patted his chest. “Come on, I’ll return the favor eventually if you get up now.”

He quirked an eyebrow at this. “How so?”

Her first response was a wink. “You’ll see,” was her second, then he rolled off of her, and stood up from the bed. Rey followed him shortly after, and the two of them immediately headed over to their suitcases to change, snatching their shirts from the night before off of the carpet. 

Grabbing her change of clothes from out of her suitcase — a black and white t-shirt and jeans she hoped looked casual enough despite the way she knew they hugged her form — she made a mad dash for the toilet just as Ben was standing up. “I call the bathroom first!”

“Oh come on,” he grumbled, but he let her go in peace, smiling and shaking his head as she closed the door on him, and turned around with a laugh she knew he heard to start getting dressed. 

Twenty minutes later they were in the elevator again, staring up at the mistletoe that still hung teasingly from the ceiling as they pondered whether or not they had to kiss twice under the same strand through their descent. “I think it counts anytime you stand under mistletoe,” Ben teased, inching closer to her as they passed the second floor. 

“Please, you just want to kiss me again.”

“Are you saying you don’t want me to?”

“Oh no, not at all, I’m just saying stop looking for an excuse and do it,” she said, then Ben snorted his laughter, and let go of his suitcase, reaching up a hand to caress the base of her skull as he leaned down to kiss her again. 

His lips tasted of mint and something else that struck her as distinctly  _ Ben,  _ a flavour that perhaps with time she could tell what it was, but in this, the first full day that they’d known one another, that wasn’t something she was thinking about. All she could conjure to her mind was that she never wanted him to stop kissing her, and he never needed an excuse. 

Ben didn’t pull away until the elevator doors opened up on the hotel’s first floor, and the two of them went to the checkout desk. They’d slept in too late to make the breakfast they served in the lobby, so they’d have to find food elsewhere if they wanted to eat that morning, and Rey definitely needed to, she just wasn’t sure that food was the thing she had on her mind for that. 

It was another ten minutes before they were back in their rental car, and out on the road again, driving through the snowy countryside toward Colorado Springs. The radio hadn’t been turned on yet even though this time they were driving in daylight, since they were both far too distracted by their own conversation to even bother with switching it on. They spent the first hour of the drive back just bonding, learning more about one another. Ben lived on the west side of the city, while Rey lived closer to downtown in an apartment building, but still they were no more than five miles from one another. It was a mystery to her that somehow, despite being that close, they’d run into each other in a city nearly six hundred miles away instead. 

Another hour into the drive, Rey realized her stomach had started to rumble, and at first it was quiet, but then she knew he heard it when he laughed and teased her for it for about another ten miles before they finally made the turn south toward the Colorado border. “Rey, look up where the nearest Waffle House is,” he said, then he grinned. “That’s one place I know will be open on Christmas.”

She gave him a soft giggle. “Waffle House? What a romantic place for a first date.”

“Well, when your first date is on Christmas, it’s not like you have a lot of options, Rey.”

“Fair enough,” she said, once again pulling up the map on her phone before announcing to him that there was one about thirty miles to the south of Cheyenne. 

“Think you can make it that far without your stomach joining in on the conversation?”

She swatted his arm, causing Ben to absolutely chortle as they drove on down the freeway. “Fuck off, arsehole,” she said, though her voice retained a teasing lilt as her hand lingered on his arm. 

Ben was grinning when she looked over at him, and as she rolled her eyes, Rey got the distinct feeling she liked it, shit eating as it was. He was still wearing it when they walked into the Waffle House fifteen minutes later, and sat down to order waffles though it was far closer to lunch than breakfast.  _ Oh well,  _ she figured. The twenty four hour diner didn’t judge. 

It certainly wasn’t judging when she put chocolate  _ and _ peanut butter chips on her waffle, but Ben was. His eyebrows were frighteningly close to his hairline as he watched the waitress put down her waffle, then looked between it and his basic, syrup covered concoction for a few seconds in bewilderment. “Peanuts on your waffles?”

Rey nodded. “Yeah, it’s delicious, it’s like one of those Reese’s cups, you know?” All he did was blink at her, and she snickered quietly under her breath before she cut into the waffle, and held out her fork. “Don’t knock it till you try it, Ben.”

Still looking at it a little apprehensively, Ben took the fork from her hand, and slowly brought it to his mouth, keeping his gaze locked on her the entire time as if he suddenly didn’t trust her.  _ All that for a god damn waffle _ . It took all of her strength not to laugh as he took the bite, chewing with that still distrustful look on his face, until his eyes suddenly widened. 

She was practically on the edge of her seat as she watched his reaction. At first she couldn’t quite gauge how he was feeling about the interestingly flavored waffle, but then she saw pleasant surprise cross his face as he swallowed, and he cautiously reached down again for another bite before she swatted his hand away, and demanded he give her fork back. “I told you, you’d like it.”

“Shut up.”

“Ha! I was right, I should do a dance.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Rey stuck her tongue out at him, then she snatched her fork from his hands, and cut out another piece of the waffle. “You can thank my friend, Finn. He started it, but he fell out of love with Reese’s waffles, and I still liked them so… he decided that was a good reason to start calling me peanut.”

Ben chuckled under his breath, then he shook his head. “We need to eat quickly, if we’re going to make it back into the city in time, we’re going to have to get out of here soon. We’ve got Denver traffic to drive through.”

A groan was all she gave him in response before she shoveled in another bite of her absolutely delicious waffle. The corners of his mouth twitched, but did not fully rise as he gave her another wink. “We also need to stop for gas after this.”

“Is there anything we don’t have to do?”

“No, not really.”

Rey slumped back into her seat as Ben laughed at her anew, then they continued their conversation—or more accurately, banter that almost resembled childlike teasing—until they’d finished their food. Once they were done they were back on the road, driving another twenty miles before Ben finally pulled off into a gas station. While he filled up the tank, Rey walked into the little convenience store across the parking lot with the intention of grabbing snacks, and she did indeed pick up two new, gigantic bags of Lay’s salt n’ vinegar crisps… but those weren’t the only things that caught her eye. 

On a tiny little shelf near the cash register were the basic necessities; things like allergy meds, pain relievers, cough syrup, rudimentary first aid kits... and condoms. Rey stared at the little purple box, which was travel sized and probably contained no more than five, and quickly shoved it into the pile in her hands. She’d muster up the courage to look the cashier in the eye somehow, she was sure.

By a Christmas miracle, Rey managed to make it through the awkward encounter without stuttering or saying anything embarrassing. Hell, she was only doing the responsible thing, keeping herself and Ben safe from any unwanted results of their inability to keep their hands off each other. That was honorable, and therefore any judgement she  _ did _ receive was invalid. 

A few minutes later she walked back out to their car just as Ben was paying for the gas, somehow managing to shove the tiny condom box into the pocket of her leather jacket before dangling a Lay’s bag in front of him. “Look what I bought,” she sing-songed, then Ben’s face lit up with pure joy. 

“This is officially my favorite Christmas,” he replied, then he took a bag from her hand, and pulled her in for a brief, but searing kiss. “You ready to go home?”

“More than ready.” He gave her a grin, then they walked to their respective sides of the car, and jumped in before he took them out on the road again. 

The next fifty miles had Rey blushing almost the entire time as she felt the condoms burning a hole in her jacket pocket. Every time Ben made a teasing, slightly sexual comment, her eyes turned to the shoulder lane on the road, and her mind gave her frequent thoughts about asking him to pull over into it so she could ride him senselessly into the passenger seat. That would be ridiculous, though, she reasoned with herself, people would very clearly see what they were doing. 

They’d have to pull over somewhere else if she managed to ask him that, somewhere a bit more isolated. Somewhere like… They passed a sign for the Denver rest stop, and an impish grin lit up her face as she turned to Ben. “Hey, can we pull over at that rest stop? I have to pee,” she fibbed, and Ben raised an eyebrow, likely suspicious at how quickly she seemed to need to go after their last stop, but he agreed, and pulled off at the exit a mile later. 

Her heart was racing in her chest as they drew closer and closer to the parking lot, then as he pulled into a spot in a thankfully empty corner behind a grove of trees, she breathed a sigh of relief. This was a perfect spot, beyond perfect. They could easily get away with it here. 

The moment Ben put the car in park, she turned to look at him, his eyes watching her curiously as she leaned over the space between their seats, and captured his lips in a slow, sensual kiss that dragged on for probably minutes on end. A hand fisted itself in her hair, and she moaned from the rush it gave her, spurring her forth to kiss him even more passionately, so much so that she nearly knocked the car into neutral. It was only then that they broke apart, and she blushed as she avoided his gaze. “Sorry,” she said quietly. 

Ben gave her an inquisitive look, then realization started to dawn on his face. “You didn’t need to use the bathroom, did you?” he asked, his expression growing smug. 

Rey shook her head. “No, not at all,” she replied, leaning across the space between them again to plant a kiss to the base of his neck, just above the collar of his own leather jacket. “I just wanted you.”

A groan left him as she began to plant kisses up the side of his neck. “Rey, we can’t, we don’t have any… fuck…”

She giggled between one kiss and the next, and reached down into her pocket to fish the little condom box she’d purchased at the convenience store. It was only once she’d successfully gotten it out that she finally pulled away from him, and presented it with a deviant quirk of her eyebrow. “We don’t have any what, Ben?”

His jaw fell open, and he looked at her as if she’d just offered him the world on a silver platter before he laughed, and his entire body shook as he nodded. “Okay, we can, then…” he said, then he glanced at the backseat. “You want to…?”

“Not there.” She pointed to the seat she was sitting in, then she reached down, her hand searching for a minute before she found the lever she was looking for, and pulled it, sliding her seat back so that there was almost no room between it and the bench seat in the back. Ben’s eyes widened as he watched her reach for another lever, and this time the seat leaned back so that it  _ was  _ touching the backseat. “Here.”

“You’re going to kill me.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing about you,” she said with a giggle, then she unbuckled her seatbelt, and hopped out of the car before staring at him expectantly. “Come on, this is going to involve a bit of a seat change…”

Ben was smirking as he hopped out of his own seat, then he came around to her side of the car, but instead of hopping into the passenger seat like she’d hoped he would, he wrapped an arm around her waist, pinned her up against the side of the car, and kissed her senseless as his hand came up to cup her jaw. She wasn’t complaining at all as she returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as she rose up onto the balls of her feet to kiss him properly, to make him really feel every brush of her lips against his as she took his bottom lip into her mouth. As she grazed it with her teeth, Ben let out a moan, and she felt his free hand reaching back to find the passenger seat through the still opened door. Once he found it, the hand on her jaw wrapped tightly around her waist, keeping her pulled close against him as he slowly began to lower himself into the car. 

Both of them ducked their heads to avoid injury as Ben sat back into the seat, and she broke away from their kiss ever so briefly to make sure she didn’t accidentally give herself a concussion as she climbed onto his lap, straddling him comfortably before she resumed kissing him again with renewed fervor. A soft sound she could almost describe as a whimper left her as she ground down onto him a little, feeling his erection against her clit through the fabric of both their jeans. A low chuckle left him at that, but she didn’t care to chastise him for it as she kept on kissing him like they were lovers who hadn’t seen each other in years rather than people who hadn’t even known one another for twenty four hours. 

A slight grunt left Ben as he gripped her waist a little more tightly, and shifted them so that he now faced the front window of the car, then he reached out with one hand while still kissing her, and pulled the open door shut, finally offering the two of them some semblance of privacy. They’d have to just hope no other Christmas travelers decided to park in this particular section of the lot within the next twenty minutes. They’d have to hope and pray.

Already her hands were sliding down his shoulders, down across the fabric of the t-shirt on his chest, and all the way to the button of his jeans. Ben gasped into their kiss, but said nothing as he kept going, kissing her passionately even as she began to palm him through his jeans. She could feel him losing his self control the longer she did, and a thrill rushed through her when he finally snapped, and took her wrist in his hand, placing her arm around his shoulder as he broke their kiss to look up at her with a teasing hint in his eye. Rey stared at him in confusion, but then he reached down between them, and undid the button of his jeans, his eyes remaining locked on hers the entire time even as he slowly lowered his fly, and reached for the fabric of her own trousers. 

“Ben,” she murmured softly, stroking his hair ever so slowly as he undid the button of her jeans, the little golden metal sliding through the denim soundlessly compared to a few seconds later when she heard the faint, tell-tale whizzing noise of Ben pulling her zipper down. 

They paused then, looking at one another as they realized the logistics of actually taking off their jeans in the cramped space of the car. “This is going to take a bit of adjusting,” Ben warned her as his hands began to slide her jeans down her hips. “We probably should’ve done this in Colorado Springs.”

“Probably… I could’ve waited, but… I don’t know… there’s something about it just being you and I…”

“I feel that, too,” he said, then he pressed a kiss to the line of her jaw as he continued sliding her jeans down her tanned thighs, taking her underwear with them as he went. As a result, she found herself exposed to him then for the first time, and his breath caught in his throat when he finally looked at her. “ _ Fuck _ , Rey…”

Her cheeks flushed beet red, but she kept on peeling her jeans down her legs, eventually managing to toss them to the floor behind her before she turned to help him get out of his. Boxers and denim went down his legs as one, and she managed to pause only for a second when she realized that Ben was entirely  _ proportional. _ Soon his own trousers joined hers on the floor of the car, and she didn’t hesitate a moment to climb over his lap, and reunite their lips, kissing him vigorously as she reached down between them to take his already hard cock into her hands. 

Little gasps left him as she began to stroke his erection, gliding her hand slowly up and down the length of him before gently sweeping her thumb over the tip. Several swears left him as he leaned back in the seat, and she continued her work at an easy pace, one hand on his cock and another gripping his hair as she kissed him without any thought or worry about what might happen if someone caught them doing this, and the world ceased to exist once more. 

As Rey’s one hand pumped his cock, the other let go of his hair, and reached off to the side to grab the small condom box. In hindsight, she should’ve checked the size before she purchased them, but she’d barely even thought about the decision at the time in her defense. Her only thought had been getting into his pants, which wasn’t normally a thought she had about strangers she had only known for about eighteen hours, but it certainly was now. 

Pulling a condom out of the little box, she broke away from kissing him, letting him distract himself with kissing her neck— which was absolutely ruining her ability to read as she looked down at the label — while she confirmed that the damn thing would fit him. Thankfully, the size seemed to be appropriate enough, and she resumed kissing him on the lips as she took the condom in her hands, and tore the package open. 

It was then that he reached a hand out, and stopped her, catching one of her wrists in his large fingers. “Wait,” he said. “Let me.” She didn’t protest as he took the condom from her hands, and slowly slid it over his cock, his eyes only leaving hers for a second until he finished, then he wiped his hand free of its lubricant on his shirt before he turned his attention back to her.  

One of his hands reached up to brush a piece of her hair behind her ear, and for a moment he looked like he wanted to say something, but then he decided against it, and kissed her instead. Rey didn’t bother wasting time asking him what it was, she simply returned his kiss, hands reaching again for his cock as she positioned herself over him. Her lips were still locked thoroughly onto his when she sank down, softly moaning his name as she took him in inch by inch.

Ben gasped as she rested her forehead against his, both of them breathing shakily as she lowered herself onto him until she reached her limit, and they sat there for a few seconds in the overwhelming quiet. All she could hear outside was the faint howling of the wind as it blew trees branches into a swirling dance around them, and the sound of their own breathing. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, his voice nearly a whisper.

She gave a firm nod. “I’m perfect, Ben.  _ You’re _ perfect,” she said in response, then he smiled warmly.

“You, too.”

Without another word, he was kissing her again, one hand supporting her back, firm against the leather of her jacket as the other wound itself in her hair, pulling her tightly against him as she began to move. Ben met her thrust for thrust as she rode him on the passenger seat, and a vague part of her hoped that Enterprise would  _ never  _ find out about this, but she ignored it. 

The car could break and she wouldn’t give a shit, because having his cock inside of her, his hands in her hair while his kisses made her feel like she’d come home for the first time after having been away awhile was an all encompassing feeling, one that made her feel whole and content in ways she hadn’t in a long time. Something told her it wasn’t just his skills as a supremely good kisser that were making her feel this way either, no there was something else going on, but it would still be some time before she was at the stage to figure out what. 

She was able to take him a bit more deeply as the time passed, pulling away from their kiss to breathe as she sank further onto him when she went down, looking deep into his dark eyes before she leaned down and instead pressed her kisses gently onto his neck, sucking a mark where she knew it would be visible. He’d probably get her back for it later, but she didn’t care, they were both covered in too many marks for them to get away with it now. 

Rey pulled away from his neck both panting hard and laughing her ass off as she admired her work. “Have fun explaining that one to your parents.”

Ben snickered his response, then he bucked his hips up into her a little more forcefully, and she swore from the feeling it brought her. “Fuck me,” he breathed, clearly seeming to mean it as just an expression, but then they both paused, realizing what that little two word phrase also meant as hazel met brown for the millionth time. 

Rey bit her lip, then they both promptly burst into fits of abdominal pain inducing laughter, and she buried her face in his shoulder as she collapsed on top of him laughing so hard his cock nearly slipped out of her. “Jesus fucking Christ, Ben.”

The man in question was laughing too hard to form a response, tightening his grip on her as both their bodies shook hard enough that the entire car was rocking beneath them. Not that it hadn’t been rocking before, she just noticed it more now that she wasn’t completely lost in Ben. She pulled away from him as she came down from her laughter, and kissed him with a dumb smile still plastered on her face as she slowly started moving again. 

She could sense Ben’s smile against her lips as she rode him, and something about their laughter, about the way they were so at ease with one another even despite still being strangers and the lack of space around them made her realize that this was no longer just  _ starting  _ to be her favorite Christmas. It  _ was.  _

In all honesty, it was truly a feat of luck that no one else managed to park in that section of the lot for the next twenty minutes. Especially considering that anyone looking would’ve seen the obvious, since the two of them worked up a sweat, the condensation of their breathing fogging up the windows on top of the frequent shaking of the car as Rey rode Ben with an intensity she’d never known. At some point, they helped one another shrug off their heat causing leather jackets, tossing them aside on the floor as the temperature in the car grew increasingly hot, sweat building on their brows the longer it went on.

Her orgasm built quickly, within a minute of knowing it was happening, she was whispering it into his ear and he was encouraging her to let go. Rey came with a shout, which was muffled into his shoulder as she rested her head against him, but she rode him through it. If there was one thing she was good at, it was reciprocating.

They would have to stop later. 

Ben luckily didn’t take long after her to fall over the edge, a loud moan falling from his lips as he finally came, and she rode him through it, not ceasing her movements until she was certain he was spent beneath her. Even then, she slowly brought them to a halt, pulling away to look into his eyes, his irises darker than normal as they looked into hers. 

They sat there panting for a few seconds, the slight fog of their breath hovering in the air around them as sunlight filtered in through the window. The silence lasted maybe a second at most before Rey’s lips turned up in a grin, and they both giggled as she pressed her forehead against his. “That… that was…”

“It was a lot of things,” he said, then he hummed contentedly. “But I don’t think I can put any of them into words.”

“Neither can I.” They both shared another laugh at this, then Rey pulled back, reaching up to wipe a bead of sweat from his cheek. “We should probably get going.”

This time his response was a groan. “Oh, you had to say that didn’t you…” he breathed, then he gave a light chuckle as she pulled back from him. “But you’re right… We need to get back on the road, we’ve been here long enough as is.”

Rey grinned, then she kissed him again before she slipped off of him to grab her pants off of the floor. “You’ll have to wait a few more minutes first.”

“Why’s that?” Ben asked almost innocently, though his voice made it seem like he was still a little dazed from what they’d done in the passenger seat. It was actually rather endearing, and she smiled warmly at him as she shoved on her jeans and underwear to the best of her ability in the cramped space. 

“We’re at a rest stop, and I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer not to get a UTI for Christmas,” she joked, and he laughed, but quickly nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, that’s a good point,” he replied, then he quickly followed suit, taking the condom off and letting it rest temporarily in the cupholder on Rey’s side. He winced at his own actions, then he shoved his legs back into  the clothing he’d discarded. They both put the leather jackets back on a second later before they looked at one another, and made a few more adjustments to their highly disheveled hair. Once they decided they were presentable to passersby, Rey and Ben jumped out of the passenger side, and he grabbed their used condom, tossing it into a nearby bin as he shut the door. Giving each other one last onceover, the two of them walked hand in hand toward the main building of the rest stop, their fingers lacing together as the final leg of their journey began. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We now have new tags because I've realized my recipient's got a fic titled Steer from the Passenger Side, and well... Puns are puns. Hope you appreciate them :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND SO IT ENDS. Thanks so much for the prompt again, and hope you enjoy this ending!

The rest of the drive managed to go by without incident, unless one counted Ben and Rey shouting the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody loudly enough to pester the entire state of Colorado on the remainder of the drive between Denver and Colorado Springs. She found herself utterly delighted that he automatically went for shrieking the higher “Galileo,” instead of leaving her to do it, and nearly laughed so hard she missed singing her second, lower, “Galileo,” altogether. 

When they finally reached a sign saying Colorado Springs was in thirty miles though, she felt a weird, sad twinge rush through her. Though she and Ben didn’t live far from one another at all, the adventure they’d been on had been an unexpected, wild ride of fun. It had been the sort of thing she wished she could spend forever in, the kind of feeling that one looked back on and thought,  _ damn, take me back _ . It was easily her favorite Christmas, and she didn’t want it to end in tragedy. 

Not that she should consider separating from Ben - whom she’d met twenty hours ago - a tragedy. 

“We made it,” Ben announced a while later as they passed by a sign announcing the city limits. “We’re home.”

“Yeah,” Rey murmured solemnly. “Home.”

They fell quiet for a few minutes, then as the snow around them blurred further with an increase in speed, Ben took in a deep breath. “What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?”

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest, and she looked up at him with hope in her eyes. “Nothing, why?”

“I was just wondering if you’d… want to spend it with me…” he said sheepishly, and she watched a red flush light up on his cheeks as he stared out at the road, actively avoiding eye contact with her. Well, she supposed that given the fact that he was driving, his eyes were exactly where they ought to be, but still it seemed like more than was necessary. 

“Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“I’d absolutely love to spend my New Year’s Eve with you,” she told him, then she reached over, and laid a hand on his shoulder. “And my New Year’s Day, if you don’t mind.”

A broad grin parted his lips, those sinful, sinful lips she’d never grow tired of kissing, she was sure. “I’d like that,” he said, then his eyes briefly flickered over to hers. “It’s a date.” He then kept a smug smile on his face as he paid his attention to the road, gliding their rental car over the icy ground as they drove on toward their homes. “So where’s your address?”

Rey was grinning as she gave it to him, then they kept on driving on down the road toward her little apartment building. The higher rises of downtown passed them by in a blur, not necessarily because of speed, but certainly because of how odd it felt to her that this was already coming to an end. Well, she would see him again, but their first adventure together was coming to a close, as good as it might get, or maybe it would one day be even better, it would never be quite like this again. 

There was a small lump in her throat as Ben pulled up in front of her building, then he put the car in park, and the two of them stared at one another for a few seconds before he pressed a button to open the trunk, and they both hopped out. Rey adjusted her jacket as she walked toward the back of the car, meeting him there with a grim smile on her face as he pulled her bag out of the trunk, and raised the handlebar for her, then he handed it over with an equally solemn expression.  

“Thanks,” she said quietly, taking it from Ben as she watched him pull the trunk shut, then he turned to her, looking for a second like he was going to put his hands on his hips, then he changed his mind, and they reached out for her instead. Rey gasped as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close against him so suddenly she released her grip on her suitcase and instead wrapped her arms around his neck as his lips came down to meet hers. 

Their kiss was desperate, earnest, eager, passionate, and a whole long list of adjectives that she hadn’t heard of since high school english classes. She wasn’t sure what pushed her to do it, but she leapt up into him, marveling at how his arms scooped under her thighs to catch her as she collided with him in full, using her new vantage point to deepen their kiss. 

A part of her was vaguely aware that they were in public, but she ignored that part. She hadn’t exactly seen any children around, after all. Ben didn’t seem to care either as his tongue swept along her lower lip, and he let go of one of her thighs to bury a hand in her hair as he pressed her against the back of the car, returning her kiss with that same passion and only occasionally coming up for air. 

They didn’t break away until a throat cleared from somewhere behind them, and only then did they finally pull apart. Rey peered around Ben’s gorgeous, dark hair to see Poe Dameron staring at them with a very amused expression on his face, and his arms crossed over his chest as he looked between them. “I see you made a friend,” he teased, then she immediately untangled herself from Ben, who gracefully lowered her to the ground before she made a mad dash toward her friend.    


“Poe!” she cried, barreling into him with an enthusiastic hug, forgetting for a moment that he’d just caught her practically having sex with Ben in public. 

Her friend was laughing obnoxiously as he wrapped his arms around her waist, then he pulled away a second later. “Alright, we don’t have much time to plan this, so, say your goodbyes quickly, I still need to figure out what flowers I want to bring him.”

Rey grinned, then she turned back to Ben, and walked toward him slowly. “I’ve got to go,” she said.

“I know.”

“But… You have my number, and I expect you to use it,” she replied, walking close enough until she was well within his personal space. “I need someone to kiss on New Year’s…” she leaned in even closer so she was whispering into his ear. “And for a long time after that, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.” He was grinning as she pulled away, then he leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Go… Have fun… Let me know if he says yes, okay?”

“I can do that,” she replied with a nod, then she rested a hand briefly on his cheek before stepping back. “I’ll see you later?”

“You bet.” With that, Ben gave her a mock salute, and walked over to the driver’s seat of the car, and got in. A pang of sadness filled her chest as she listened to the car start up, the radio switching on to  _ Bell Bottom Blues _ again as he slowly began to drive away. She stood there watching until the car became no more than a small, black dot, and only then did she turn back to Poe with a much sadder smile on her face. 

“So, you ready?” she asked, trying to put enthusiasm into her voice that she just couldn’t quite seem to find.

Poe gave her a sympathetic look, then he squeezed her shoulder. “I’d love to, but you’re going to have to tell me everything about  _ that, _ ” he said, then he looked down a small ways. “And how you got all those hickeys, Rey.”

_ Damn you, Ben Solo. _

Snorting her laughter, Rey grabbed the handle of her suitcase, and led Poe inside, telling him everything about the insane trip she’d taken to get there. She told him everything from a bag of salt and vinegar crisps, to pulling over at a Denver rest stop, but with several details left out for privacy, and ending with how she was going to spend the next several days eagerly awaiting the start of the new year, and another kiss. 

**_Six days later…_ **

Rey had been texting Ben frequently over their week long separation, the holidays keeping them both too busy to see one another before the new year. She was finding that he was just as funny through a text as he was in person, their banter translating onto a digital format with ease, though she definitely still preferred the real thing. 

Now she sat in her living room, watching as party guests passed her by, and the newly engaged Finn and Poe flirted off in the corner, love in their eyes she could only hope she’d see herself someday. Her eyes consistently flickered to the clock on her phone, announcing that the time was now half past eleven. She’d told Ben to be there ten minutes ago, and he was now late. He hadn’t been answering her texts either, filling her with an anxiety she knew had to be ridiculous. 

The man was driving. It was New Year’s Eve. They lived in a city. Traffic was probably miserable, but the logical side of her brain just didn’t seem to be working, and thus, on the last night of the year, Rey was slumped on a living room couch feeling absolutely miserable as she waited for him to show. She’d never felt more like she was just a third wheel than she did in that moment, watching coverage of Times Square on the TV while nursing a glass of champagne that Poe had spent far too much money on - he’d claimed they deserved it, and that as a newly engaged man, he was obligated to treat himself - but no one was complaining. It was damn good champagne. 

At long last, a knock sounded on the door, and she sprang to her feet, not caring that the strappy heels she was wearing weren’t meant for that. She managed to survive, and didn’t even spill the champagne as she made her way toward the door. 

“I’m coming!” she shouted, rushing as fast as her feet would carry her to the knocking sound she knew could only come from one person. She wasn’t sure how, but she wasn’t at all surprised when she opened it to reveal a smirking Ben Solo on the other side. 

“You would not believe the traffic I drove through to get here,” he said, confirming that her fears had all been for naught as she set down her champagne glass on a nearby table, where it would remain forgotten about until the next morning. She laughed with delight as she immediately launched herself at him, her arms wrapping around his neck as he caught her around the waist, lifting her up and spinning her around in the hallway. It had only been a week since they’d last seen one another, since their adventure had come to a close, but already they were holding onto one another as if they’d been separated for a lifetime. 

Rey’s fingers threaded themselves through his hair, and oh, how she’d missed the feeling oh his thick waves against her skin. Whopping laughter escaped them both as he set her down, then he was kissing her again, her red lipstick undoubtedly smudging onto both of their faces, but she couldn’t have been bothered to give half a shit as she returned it. She was grinning against his lips as she slid her hands down to his chest, relishing in the feeling of being near him. 

It felt like another adventure had begun, another late night drive through the western wilderness through a powerful blizzard that somehow managed to warm her heart more than any other night she’d ever been alive. As she slowly pulled apart from Ben, she was a little relieved to see only a small red smudge on his lips, but more delighted to realize that he was actually there, and now their real journey was beginning. 

“Come on in, there’s someone I want you to meet,” she told him, lacing her fingers through his as she led him into her flat, kicking her door shut as they walked through the threshold. She led him straight to Finn and Poe, clearing her throat to interrupt a lengthy kiss. The two were both flushing and muttering apologies as they broke apart, but Poe’s embarrassment was quickly replaced by recognition. 

He smacked his fiance’s chest enthusiastically. “Finn, this is the guy we’ve been telling you about!”

“What?”

“The one Rey was practically fucking in public,” Poe announced a touch too loudly - Rey made a mental note over the heat that now crept up her cheeks to not let him have anymore champagne - causing Ben to choke on his breath beside her. “Hi, I’m Poe, nice to meet you.” Her friend extended his hand, and with a nervous laugh, Ben took it, shaking it forcefully. 

“Ben,” he replied, then he turned to Finn. 

“Ignore my fiance, he’s an idiot,” her other friend said, giving Ben a warm grin. “But yeah, I’m Finn. You the boyfriend?”

Ben blinked a few times, and Rey gave a nervous chuckle. They’d never really put a label on their relationship. As far as they were concerned, the closest label they had was fuck buddies or perhaps the more pg-13 friends with benefits, but they had yet to officially declare one another as a partner. “I guess so,” he said, and her heart leapt in her chest at the confirmation. “Yeah… I guess I am..”

Instantly needing a moment away from Finn and Poe, Rey told them she’d catch up later, then led Ben over to their kitchen on the far side of the room under the guise of grabbing food when really she just wanted to talk about what had just happened. The moment they stepped foot inside of the room, Rey slipped her hands around his waist. “Did you mean what you just said?”

“About being your boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, I did,” he replied, his hands resting on her hips. “I’ve been meaning to officially ask you, but I almost thought…”

“It went without saying?”

“Yep. That’s how it felt, it felt like we’d been doing this forever instead of just a few days.”

“Well, it’s officially been a week, so… It’s definitely been more than a few days,” Rey told him, then she leaned up on the tips of her toes, and pressed a kiss to the juncture of his neck and shoulder, causing him to shiver. “Ben… I don’t care about putting a label on it… I never will, but it was nice to hear you say it.”

“Yeah, I liked saying it,” he said, leaning forward to gently kiss her forehead. “Just as long as you don’t feel like we’re moving too fast.”

“We’ve got time… It’s about to be a new year, anyway.”

“Yeah, that’s right… twenty more minutes…”

“And then it will be 2019… the last year of the decade…” she said, then he rested his forehead against hers, and she closed her eyes as a feeling of contentment washed over her. “Hopefully the best one, too.”

“Here’s to it…” he said, then he pulled away. “We should toast to this, where’s your champagne?”

Rey was beaming as she walked over to the other side of the room, and poured two glasses into the plastic flutes she and Poe had purchased for the party they’d decided to host. Her friends were more social than she was, but it was decreed that her apartment was the nicest, and therefore, she’d become the host. That had been the deal they’d agreed upon when he and his fiance had promised they’d clean up after. She fully intended on holding them both  _ strictly  _ to that promise. 

Once she was finished, she turned around, and handed Ben a glass, watching almost hypnotically as he took it, and they both raised their glasses in the air. “To the new year?” she asked hopefully.

“To the new year.” He then clinked his glass against hers, and they both took a sip. 

“Did you want to rejoin the party?”

“Nope… I think I prefer staying in here… with you…” He took a step forward, taking one more sip of his champagne before he set it down casually on her counter. “Alone.”

Rey snorted her laughter, but she immediately set down her glass as well, then she stepped forward, and launched herself into another kiss. They then spent the remainder of the time until the final two minutes of the year holding and kissing one another in her kitchen, ignoring the sounds of the party outside until Finn appeared at the kitchen door to announce that it was nearly midnight. They both groaned as they parted, grabbing their neglected glasses of champagne as they walked out into the living room where a good dozen or so people were gathered around the t.v watching live coverage of Times Square as the countdown slipped down below a minute. 

Glasses were raised into the air as the countdown passed thirty seconds, then twenty, then everyone was screaming the final ten numbers out loud, joining a chorus of distant voices from the other flats in the building as at long last, the year came to an end, and the clock struck midnight. Rey screamed out her “Happy New Year, then she turned to immediately have Ben’s lips on hers, and this time, she did spill a little bit of her champagne as she wrapped an arm around his neck to pull him close, the other one accidentally tipping her glass a bit too far as she returned his kiss. 

The notes of Auld Lang Syne filled the air, but she didn’t even hear it over the fireworks going off, and not just the ones onscreen and around them. Smiles crossed both their faces as they kissed, then they slowly pulled apart just enough to see one another, and Rey found that Ben’s smile might have been the best part of him as he whispered, “Happy New Year,” just loudly enough for her to hear. 

“Happy New Year,” she replied, then she raised her glass to her lips, took one last sip, and set it down before kissing him again, fairly certain that both of their wishes for a happy new year were about to be granted, and she couldn’t wait to see the results. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How many dramatic kisses can I squeeze into one chapter? The answer is too damn many. Thanks for reading y'all. Till next time.


End file.
